Mass Effect: Book I - The Shepard Chronicles
by Shepard's Lore
Summary: Book I of a four part series where I novelize the entire trilogy of Mass Effect. This book is about Shepard before she was chosen as a Spectre candidate. Join her and her different crew members on their missions as they fend off attacks from terrorists, mercenaries, pirates, and raiders on different worlds, all the while getting to know her on a deeper level. R&R!
1. Siege of Shanxi

**Author's Note:**  
 _Italics_ = The voice being altered. Whether through comms, helmet filters, or anything else, this indicates that the person's voice is being altered by something. This is only an exception with the Quarians, as (in my canon) their helmets do not alter their voices.  
 **Bold** = Something a character is reading. This is only if they aren't reading it out loud, as that will be spoken in the character's voice.

For those interested, I have an index with all the acronyms, military ranks, measurements, colony information, and anything else not explicitly stated by the Codex in another story on my page. If you are interested, feel free to give it a browse. Keep in mind, it's not needed to enjoy the story. But if you like all the tiny details, or would like to use this information as reference to your own story, feel free.

OoO( 1 )OoO

 **2174 CE, September 25 ESD - 1725 EST  
** **Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

It had already been a stressful day for Zannis, the turian ambassador to Alliance Space. As soon as he landed on the planet, looks of despise and hatred were immediately aimed towards him and the army of accountants and treasurers from Palaven. The scar left on the planet by their kind was still fresh, something that was immediately apparent as he looked around at all the seething glares directed at them. As the tall Palaven native stepped from the airbus that flew them to the meeting site, he was immediately assaulted by a wall of sound as protesters shouted from across a security barricade. A lot of them were completely belligerent, screamed curses, slurs, and even threw food items at the airbus.

But he knew that was going to happen when coming here. He knew there would be resistance, not only to his presence on the hallowed battleground that was formerly occupied by his kind, but to the very idea of reparations for their actions during the Relay 314 incident. Some of them found the idea of monetary compensation for the loss of lives insulting, while others thought humanity should still be at war. But it didn't bother him. He was made the turian ambassador to the Alliance for a reason, and this was it. Looking out over the signs people were holding, most of them were in a human language that he didn't understand. After reading up on the incident before his appointment to his current position, he made a note that the majority of the people on the colony hailed from an Terran region known as the People's Republic of China. The strange symbols and curved, almost artistic looking language must be their local language. He even managed to spot a sign that only made him even more concerned; one bearing the image of a small avian animal known as a chicken. Further back, he spied another that had an articulate drawing of a turian eating a human child. The level of detail and hate that went into it made the " **NO BIRD FLU** " sign behind it look laughably weak.

Shaking the images from his head, he turned away from the crowd and stepped towards the large capitol building of the city Taiyuan. Once inside, he was among humans who knew what he was there for. But despite that, he could still feel tensions rising as he, and the five other turians following him, made their way down the cavernous hall that his people once painted with the colors of the Hierarchy. Despite the rivalry between the two races, he was determined to see this through and give these people what they deserved. As he walked, he was stopped by a human in a pressed suit and dark glasses. Looking up, he recognized the head of security by the oddly bright red color of his hair. The man held up his hand in greeting. Zannis looked down at the hand, before reaching forward awkwardly and grasping it. The human shook his hand firmly before offering to lead him to the conference room.

The media were everywhere in the lobby of the lavishly decorated building. Though they weren't using flashes, he could easily spot at least ten of them that were taking pictures of him. No doubt sending it to their sources back on Earth and on the Citadel. Soon, his face would be stamped on the screen of every tabloid in the galaxy, ensuring that he would be stripped of his honor as a turian. _"The Human Sympathizer,"_ they would say after they went live. _"The turian who payed off humanity, who sold the honor of his own people."_ Knowing he was likely to be the target of more than just human aggressors in the future, he still walked on. This was what was right, even if it painted a target on his back.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the human opened a large set of double doors and allowed his people inside. Already in the room were several security guards, armed with the usual shock batons and body armor. In the memo, he was assured that mass effect propelled weapons weren't being allowed inside, or anywhere near the building. Even security used old-school, hand-to-hand weapons due to the fact Zannis couldn't be assured the entire security detail didn't harbor hatred for turians and wouldn't shoot, given the opportunity. At the table were several humans in suits worthy of the Citadel Council, all sitting around a circular table, taking up effectively one side of the surface. Breathing deeply, the turian pulled a chair back and sat down, his compatriots following his lead.

OoOoO

 **2174 CE, Harvest Season 22 PSD - 2228 PST  
Karkarus Estate - Cipritine, Palaven**

He had been on edge since the beginning of the season. As soon as the offer came up, he approved it with hesitancy. Both because the potential for something going wrong was extremely high, and because he was still of the opinion that after the blow dealt at Relay 314, his people paid more than enough with their lives, and the damage their fleet received from the human onslaught. But even his brother in arms, Sparatus, was not immune to peer pressure from the other Council members. So he must be the diplomat, and entertain the humans in their request for compensation. Despite his aversion to the concept, he never half-assed a job. Setting his pride aside, he selected someone who knew much more about the incident than he did as the ambassador.

Even with all the precautions he took, the entire thing gave him a feeling of dread. Which was why, when he noticed his home communicator ringing that night, he felt his crop tighten. Groaning, he set aside the book he was reading and grabbed the comm unit. The device was the one restricted for emergencies only, and it going off on that specific night couldn't be a coincidence. Finally, he answered it, seeing the older human's face appear on the hard light screen. "Governor Ming...I was hoping not to have to hear from you on this line. What is it?"

 _"A small sect from an anti-alien group known as the Sons of Adam have entered the building and have taken all of the negotiators hostage."_ said the governor, getting straight to the point.

"You assured me when I agreed to the summit being held on Shanxi that they would be properly protected." said the turian as he stood out of his chair rapidly, staring at the irritated features of the human on the communicator.

 _"We denied security accelerator weapons to prevent any itchy trigger fingers. It turns out that the Sons of Adam had been smuggling weapons onto the planet for the better part of the month, and the guards weren't able to fight back as a result. I've already contacted Captain Hackett with our Alliance fleet. They're sending infiltrators into the building to neutralize the threat."_ finished the man.

"I'm going to send a squadron of my people too." said the Primarch as he searched through his communicator for the correct number.

 _"I don't think that would be wise..."_ said Governor Ming as he furrowed his graying brow in concern. _"Having turians on Shanxi was enough to incite protest. Imagine the backlash if armed turians in military armor were seen."_

But Tevarin glared. "Your assurance that they would be safe ensured that they were captured. I'm sending a squad of our special forces there to assist the Alliance." he snapped. Chen Ming sighed and reached up to rub his head in frustration, immediately killing the threatening fire within Fedorian. "I understand the concern you have with armored turians coming to Shanxi. But the best thing we can do right now is partner up to show them that we will not tolerate this kind of hostility among our people. Maybe if the masses see them working together, they'll start believing such a peace can exist."

Ming stared at the turian for a long moment, before finally nodding. _"Agreed. I'll have a human ship ready with a trusted pilot docked on the Citadel. It will carry your squad to our rally point discreetly. In the meantime, I'll have security clear out a few blocks around so that nobody sees the teams. Don't want anyone tipping them off."_ said the human as he ran a hand through his graying hair. _"Tevarin, I would highly appreciate it of your military kept its target sights on the extremists."_

"The same courtesy would be appreciated from yours. I'll call you as soon as they arrive on the Citadel." finished Primarch Fedorian as Governor Ming nodded, then cut the communication. Tossing aside the device, Tevarin immediately pulled up the number for the Legate.

OoOoO

 **2174 CE,** **September 25 ESD - 2252 EST  
Outside ****Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

The shuttle had landed smoothly behind one of the many office buildings situated around the capitol building. The entire flight, they flew low to the ground, using the other structures in the area as cover in order to keep from being seen by the insurgents that now occupied the main site. As they landed, the commander of their unit, a man known only as "Spider" by anyone besides his unit, began explaining the mission in detail. He stood from his seat, easily too tall for the compact shuttle that they were currently occupying.

The newbie to the group, a fresh recruit, who had been picked up and adopted by the small intel detachment after only a year of service, stayed in her seat and looked up at him. She admired the man for many reasons. Hundreds of infiltration and reconnaissance missions under his belt, zero screw ups, and a record so clean that the Alliance brass barely knew who he actually was. He was a ghost, pure and simple, and he taught her everything she knew. Now, it was her turn to prove it to him. Sitting beside her was another, more grizzled veteran of the squad. An aged man by the name of Dukh. She hadn't seen much of his work, and he aimed to keep it that way.

Directly across from her, seated on the other side of the leader was a silent, dark-skinned man who looked as if he was deep in thought. Despite her own skills, he was supposedly the leading tech expert on the team. There was a joke that was once made about him, saying that if he wanted to, he could rob every bank and credit union on the Citadel blind and retire without a trace. And while they all had a good chuckle, she could sense a small tone of seriousness underneath the mirth. This man, again, was highly unknown to her. Besides his given name, which was Echo, he was a blank slate. He had also taught her plenty about how to improve her electronic sabotage and infiltration abilities.

A month after she joined the fairly unspoken of squad, she earned the name Torch. She wasn't aware if it was simply due to her red hair in contrast to her pale face, or the fact that the remains of any system she attacks might as well be on fire. But she liked it regardless. And despite the nickname, and their comradeship, that's all they were. Just nicknames, jokes, and a ring of trust that they would always help one another. She didn't even know if they knew each other on a personal level.

The only reason she knew anything about Spider was because of her initiation. As her first act in the squad, she was required to find and declassify a highly classified document from any nation on Earth. All of them were given warning ahead of time, but that didn't matter. Using her special skills, she managed to dive head first into an Alliance Network in Vancouver and uncover a mission relating to the destruction of a batarian cruiser that was drifting a bit too close to Alliance space. The newspapers reported on it, calling it a catastrophic mechanical failure. And even the intel received from transmissions between Khar'Shan and Camala referred to the the incident as an accident. The only thing that was noticeable about the classified service record was that the name 'Spider' was attached to it. When she presented the information to him, he seemed both mildly impressed, and annoyed at the same time.

Ever since, she was a member of the group. Though the group was hardly ever together. They mostly did solo missions out in the Verge, filtering information about the batarians back to Alliance intel. Or even attaining assets who tried to flee from the harsh, caste-based society that was the batarian home planet. But this, this was serious. It could spark a war, riots, outrage, and high tensions with humans on the Citadel. So the group came together.

After the quick explanation of the situation, the redhead stood from her seat. Spider opened the door to the aircar and allowed them out. He had mentioned inside the car that they would be working with a team from the Hierarchy's own special forces. There were four of them standing outside their own vehicle as well, three taller ones with one about the size of Dukh on the end. This particular figure, outfitted in black and red armor with a black face shield, was staring directly at her. Taking her helmet, the lieutenant slid it on before walking with the others over to the Hierarchy team.

Immediately, Spider stepped forward and introduced them. Despite the situation, it was clear that nobody among the humans had any issues with the turians. Or if they did, they were keeping a straight face about it. "Glad to meet our turian counterparts." said the human commander as he stood before the tall alien at the head of their group. "I'm Spider, and back here we've got Dukh, Echo, and Torch."

The lead turian reached up and tapped the side of his helmet, making the faceplate turn from a solid black, to translucent. He then stared at Spider, his mandibles twitching curiously. _"Is it common practice for humans to use nicknames?"_ asked the black-armored figure.

"Only when we want to separate our work selves from our real selves. We all have families to protect." said the human.

 _"Oddly inspiring."_ said the turian as he turned to his own crew. _"We are the Kasus Squad of the 26th Armiger Legion, or more simply put, Ghosts. I'm Squad Leader Tarkarian. Behind me are operatives Nikelik, Arondis, and Shevar."_

When he mentioned the name of the turian at the end, the woman turned and stared at the operative once more, only to find that like their leader, they had undarkened their faceshields. From a once over look, she could tell just by the facial features on this turian, as well as the helmet shape, that she was female. Despite her xenolinguistics classes, she had never had the chance to encounter a turian woman. She had to say, she wasn't disappointed.

Speaking through the suit's helmet, Tarkarian got down to business. _"We were told that some of our negotiators are being held hostage inside the capitol building here by a pro-human group. Given the likelihood of this turning into a bloodbath, we wanted to straight out ask if you even want us here."_

"We have a choice in the matter?" asked Dukh, whose rough voice drew the attention of the four turians.

 _"Not exactly. We have to be here on orders regardless. But with respect from one infiltration unit to another, we don't want to bump spurs. If you think you can handle this without us, all the better, and less chance of a catastrophic political cataclysm."_ finished Tarkarian as he stared back at Spider.

The tall man stood for a moment, staring at the turian with a curious smile on his face. "Let's make a deal. The side who takes out the most hostiles buys beer for the other." he said firmly.

Tarkarian let out a small chuckle and nodded. _"There may be hope for you humans yet."_ he said as he turned to his squad. _"That's fine, but we'll need to secure the negotiators first. Don't want them to get caught in the crossfire."_

"Already on it." said Echo as he stepped forward. On his omnitool, the man brought up a holographic display of the inside of the building. "Already got the room spotted, just need to avoid the walkers and take out the three standing guard over the hostages."

" _A spy drone?"_ asked the turian leader as he examined the map.

As the two continued with their planning, the turian woman grabbed the lieutenant's attention with a hand wave. Torch looked over at the curiously tall figure, then saw her point to her omnitool. Getting the signal, the infiltrator brought up her own display, and connected their comms on a private channel easily enough. _"How are you with that Mantis?"_ asked Shevar, her voice clearly more feminine than the leader's.

"Pretty good. You?" asked Shepard as she spied a particularly nasty looking Punisher on the woman's back.

"Pretty good. Though I prefer to let my blades do the talking." replied the turian.

Torch smiled. "That'll be interesting to see."

 _"Same goes for you. Can't wait to see you in action."_ the operative said as the two leaders finally concluded the meeting.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Here's the plan..." said Spider as he used Echo's holo map to lay out their entrypoint.


	2. Aggressive Negotiations

**OoO( 2 )OoO**

 **2174 CE, September 25 ESD 0013 EST  
Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

" _I don't like how long they're making us wait."_ said one of the armored humans to another.

Zannis, who was now foggy-headed due to a blow to the head, perked up slightly as he tried to listen in. As a turian, his strict discipline was kicking in, almost like instinct. It told him to play dumb, keep quiet, and harvest as much information as he could. While he hadn't been called a 'good turian' in a while, he still knew when his instincts were right. So that's what he did. When he heard their voices muffle slightly, he chanced a look at them.

The largest of the humans, and no doubt the leader, was the only one without a helmet on. His head was spotless of hair, leaving a curving, shining cranium. Hair had always been an odd concept to the turians. Then again, with their higher body temperature, it wasn't really needed. That aside, this was the first time he'd seen one of them without hair. It made them look even more like their primate origins if he were honest. But all thoughts of evolutionary traits vanished from Zannis' head, his eyes closing again as he heard the intimidating human speak.

"They'll come through. They know what will happen if they don't." said the leader in an ice-cold tone.

Turning to the human hostages who were seated in their own corner of the conference room, he sighed in misery. The human negotiators had been brutalized with the shock batons that were meant to protect them. He supposed he should feel lucky, as these bastards thought of him as no more than an animal, so he was spared the same treatment. But he had no doubt that they had plans for something much worse later if the human government didn't cooperate.

The table where they worked prior to the door being busted open was now flipped on its side for cover, and the three armored humans were behind it in case those outside the building tried something funny. " _Maybe we should show them how serious we are and give them a gift."_ said one of the humans as he stepped slowly towards the turian group.

"Don't lay a damn finger on the birds until I say otherwise." said the bald man with fire in his eyes.

The soldier backed off and nodded. " _Alright, alright. I get it."_ Then he turned towards the humans. " _How about this instead?"_ he asked as he walked over and kicked the lead negotiator for the human's in the side lightly. She was a strong woman, one Zannis admired. He hadn't known her long, but he respected her fiercely due to her aggressiveness towards negotiations. They had talked over comm constantly, and just trying to set the meeting up was a nightmare in itself because she refused to step back even an inch. Currently, her normally stern, but friendly face was bruised, and her lip was split from the baton. Had he been awake when she had received them, he didn't know what he would do. But from the armored units words, he may find out soon.

The bald man looked over at his comrade, then down at the woman. Shaking his head, he just turned towards the door again and began typing on his omnitool. "Do whatever you want with her. She's already unclean."

The harasser laughed, then looked down at the woman at his feet again. " _Come on you. Get up and dance for me."_ he commanded, chuckling in amusement as he reached up and took his helmet off. He, like the other man, had a clean-shorn head. But inked into the skin on the back of his head was a blade of some kind. It had a handle, with a crossguard similar to a few turian swords that they used back in the day. But this one was strange because the weapon had two other blades jutting outwards near the hilt. However, all thoughts of the tattoo were obliterated by the fire of rage as he heard the man's words. "Maybe I'll give you a special treat if you're good."

The turian rolled onto his back, then rolled onto his feet before standing straight up. Now at his maximum height, Zanis glared daggers at the man. He couldn't do much with his hands restrained behind his back, but as long as the zealot stepped away from the dark-skinned woman, that would be enough. "Don't you lay another finger on her." he growled in a menacing tone.

The tattooed man looked over at him, a slight smile of amusement on his face as he brandished his rifle. "Or what Polly? You gonna shit on my car?" he asked with a sneer. The third armored figure in the room turned to deal with Zannis, but his compatriot waved him off. "Nah, I got this." The other human nodded, then turned back towards the door. In height, the man almost stood as tall as the turian due to his armored boots. But Zannis still hovered above him and glared down at the human with anger. "I said, what are you gonna do bird bitch?" asked the man, provoking the negotiator by shoving him lightly.

Suddenly, everyone in the room was startled by someone screaming outside in the hall. All of the armored figures stared towards the door, and Zannis immediately felt the defensive barbs jut out from his spurs. It had been so long since he had used hand to hand, and even longer since he needed to use the poisoned spikes in his legs, but the advantage to them was that you only needed a well placed kick. Spinning around, he lashed out with the back of his leg in a devastating assault that would jam the stinger directly into the human's throat.

But the man's reflexes were quicker. He leaned back, barely dodging the kick and coming away with only a bloody nick to his cheek. He laughed loudly at the failed attempt, and paid the turian in kind with a knee to his stomach. Zannis gasped as the air flew from his lungs, the armored knee drilling the wind from them. He collapsed on the ground as the tattooed human reached up and wiped the blood clean from the cut. "Not a bad try. Didn't think you shit-eaters' code of honor would let you try something like that." said the man as he knelt down. Looking at the leader from over the gasping turian. "What's going on up front?"

"They sent in some shithead crisis negotiator through the door." said the man as he put his omnitool away. The leader looked over and narrowed his eyes at his comrade. "You alright?"

"Dunno...feeling...kinda weird." said the tattooed man as he went from crouching over the turian, to sitting on his hind end.

"Take a nap. We're probably going to be here a while. Especially after what they did to the Alliance CN." said the leader with a smirk.

Zannis could see it. The human didn't know it yet, but he could see it. The kick wasn't wasted, and he didn't take a shot to the gut for nothing. Still on the ground with his hands uncomfortably held behind his back with magnetic restraints, he simply stared his hatred into the man. The human, who was now sweating profusely with his eyes wide, looked down at the turian and a wide-eyed look of realization dawned on his face. But no more insults, no more slurs, nothing but silent realization as the human tried to suck air into his tightening throat.

"Lucifer is waiting." he said, remembering his studies of one of the larger religious beliefs of the humans. Seeing the cross-shaped sword tattoo clued him in on what the whole ordeal was, allowing him to recall the human version of hell. Now he could see it, and a sense of smug satisfaction filled him as the human tried to inhale, but couldn't. Moving erratically, the tattooed figure tried to get up to alert someone, anyone, but could barely move his limbs. After a minute longer, he just fell flat on his back, not moving at all. Immediately, the bald leader turned and stared at his former partner, who now had a lifeless, empty look on his face. Power walking over to the limp human, the leader grabbed him by the front of his armor and slapped him in the face gently.

"Shamblin! Shamblin! What the hell!?" the zealot shouted as he tried to shake the tattooed man awake. But he got no response. Turning to Zannis, he growled and grabbed the turian by his cowl. "What the fuck did you do to him?"

"I sent him to his god." said the negotiator as he glared at the human. He was already compromised, so no point in trying to sneak out of this one with information. Instead, he threw his head forward and smashed it into the man's nose.

The bald figure stumbled back at the crushing blow, but didn't lose his footing. Instead, he retaliated by slamming his fist across the turian's jaw. Immediately, oblivion returned to Zannis as he hit the ground again, groaning as stars filled his mind.

OoOoO

 **2174 CE, September 26 ESD - 0010 EST  
Outside Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

"You sure you got this?" asked Spider. Josh eyed the spectral man curiously. Since he had been called in as the Alliance's crisis negotiator, the shadowy figure had asked questions, then vanished like in one of the caped crusader comics he read as a kid. All it took was a split second distraction, and the man was gone like smoke in the wind. But he always returned to prepare him for more.

"Don't worry. I've done this kinda thing for years. Besides, I don't even have to really negotiate. All I have to do is get the doors open, right?" he asked, a not-so-confident smirk on his face. The sky was now overcast and he knew rain was coming. It was a bad sign, marked by the fact that he was dealing with a religious cult. Those were the worst, especially when they grew desperate enough to take hostages. They were the kinds of people who would take the lives of everyone inside, including themselves just to keep the 'non-believers' from winning. They had no souls, and no qualms about killing innocents.

Him, he was just a target for them. But the building was old school, and was built like a bunker. With only three entrances, all of which were guarded, the only way for the infiltration team to get in without being noticed was to distract them. And that's what he was, a distraction. A giant target, sent in to provide an opening for the spooks. Sighing to himself, he just nodded, confirming he was ready.

"Alright. Me and Commander Tarkarian are going to keep an eye on you. Once you're given the signal, get the hell out of there. You've done your job." said Spider as he patted the man on the shoulder. The rain begin to fall as the signal that the teams were ready was given.

OoOoO

 **2174 CE,** **September 26 ESD - 0011 EST  
Outside Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

Torch and her team were already near the door, all of them cloaked in their special tactics gear. She brought up her omnitool out of view of everyone to check and make sure all her systems were up. Cloaking device, vital suppressor, movement dampener, all good to go. Inhaling sharply, she mentally readied herself as she looked up at the man who was going to give them entry into the building. The crisis negotiator stood tall, wearing a non-threatening suit. His dark hair was slicked back over his head as he stared sternly at the door to the capitol building.

It was her first actual infiltration mission. Watching as the man moved towards the door, she got the tapping signal from Dukh behind her. It was just the two of them from the human team, while Tarkarian used three of his own. Spider was an infiltration specialist, but his forte wasn't cloaking. His specialty was to hide in plain sight, and become one of the inner circle. In this situation however, that wasn't a possibility. So he stayed back with Tarkarian. Echo, meanwhile, was stationed on the roof, where he would stare through the eyes of the drone using his visor. Last she heard, the small, cloaked sphere was hovering just outside the conference room which the hostages were supposedly being held in.

On the other side of the negotiator, her helmet picked up the IFF's of the turian team. Since they moved under the roof to avoid the rain, there was likely no chance that any of the infiltrators would be visually spotted. She flexed her muscles in anticipation as Joshua finally approached and knocked on the door.

Behind the human infiltration team was a pale-skinned biotic lieutenant with a nearly buzzed head. She was backup for Abernathy in case they tried using him for target practice. Finally, the knock came back. Joshua shouted over the rain through the door. "My name is Joshua Abernathy, and I'm with the Alliance. I'm unarmed, and I've come to discuss the terms of the hostages' release!"

" _We've already stated our terms! And we don't intend to repeat them!"_ shouted the man from the other side.

"Please, we have a storm out here. The message you sent was scrambled, so I wanted to come in and discuss them with you more clearly. I'm unarmed, and just want to talk!" shouted Joshua back. The rain had already wet his suit, making him look miserable in the darkness of the doorway. From the other side, there was a long pause before a reply was finally given—the large door slid open in the typical mechanical fashion. Josh looked up at the lobby of the building, with red carpeting and sandstone columns that looked like they were glowing a soft gold in the chandelier light. On either side of the door, there was an armored figure, with a helmet covering their faces, and a weapon aimed directly at him. As soon as Josh stepped forward into the doorway, the two men immediately fell back behind the columns, never taking their weapons off him as they did. No doubt they suspected that snipers were aimed at the door.

Immediately, Torch moved forward. Her steps were slow and methodical, and her breathing deep. She quickly stepped into the doorway just behind the negotiator and waited, crouching down so as to make as little of a target as possible.

"I'm just here to re-discuss the demands. Like I said, the message wasn't clear, so I wanted to get it straight from you." He stood in the doorway, no wavering in his voice as he spoke. With his hands in the air, he said simply, "I'm going to step inside, don't be alarmed." Torch stepped once again up behind him, but there still wasn't enough room for her to slip past. Her IFF finder told her that the three turians and Dukh were behind her as well, displaying their locations on her heads up display. "Now, I'm gonna reach into my pocket, and pull out a datapad so I can record everything. Alright?" he asked.

The men stayed silent, neither of them moving an inch from behind their cover. They might be conversing over their communicators to whoever was leading the operation. Slowly, Josh reached down and opened his coat, showing them that there was nothing in his pocket except for a personal datapad. Still holding his jacket open, he took one more step forward as he pulled it out.

Finally, Torch had room to squeeze through. With her weapon tucked tight, she moved forward, step by step as he stopped again. Turning sideways, she managed to slip past the negotiator without any contact. "It's a bit tight. Dukh may have some trouble." she responded through her communicator to the others.

" _Then we might too. Shevar, you go first. The rest of you, hold back until there's a better opening."_ came the command from Tarkarian.

Despite the order not being for him, Dukh knew that he had to stay back as well. He was bigger than Torch by a long shot, and he wouldn't be able to squeeze through without knocking the man over. Shevar slipped past him, and did the same as his teammate while Abernathy started to speak again.

"So, could you explain what your terms for releasing the hostages are?" he asked, looking back and forth at the two men as he felt a slight brush against his coat. His skin was crawling. There were too many places for people to hide in the lobby, and fire could come from anywhere. He had a personal shield, but that only stopped so many of the high-speed rounds before burning out.

The two armored units looked at each other, before turning back to him. " _Our terms have been explained. You, you're going to be an example of what happens if we don't get what we want."_ said one of them as he raised his rifle.

Immediately, Joshua took a step back in panic, and the man fired. His shield flared just as he tripped over Dukh and fell on his rear end. Using this to his advantage, the larger man moved forward, but stopped as a blue barrier appeared right in front of his face. Round after round deflected off the biotic field as the backup lieutenant covered them, her eyes glaring at the insurgents as she held the shield. Still they fired as the biotic woman slowly began to back out of the doorway with the negotiator in tow.

" _Josh! Get your ass out of there now!"_ shouted Spider through the comms. The negotiator didn't have to be told twice as he got back to his feet and began moving backwards with his biotic guardian.

Dukh was ready to move forward once the men realized their rounds were ineffective, but was halted by Arondis. " _Dukh, don't go through the barrier. If you do, it'll show your outline, and our plan will go to hell!"_ snapped the turian through their private frequency. The human growled, and considered going anyway. But he knew that doing so would only expose the two who made it inside. So instead, he slowly began to back out with the biotic lieutenant and Abernathy. All too soon, the door slammed shut again.

Torch stayed in her position behind one of the pillars as she heard the call over the comm. Activating her own, she spoke softly. Even though her stealth armor was built to be soundproof, she didn't want to risk alerting anyone to her presence. "Who all made it in?"

" _Just you from the looks of it."_ said Nikelik, the last one on the turian team.

" _I'm here too. Looks like it's just us Torch."_ came the voice of the turian woman.

Sighing to herself, she nodded. At least she had someone in here with her. "Affirmative. We're on the move now."

" _Confirmed. I'll be your guide from here. Through the large doorway in the back is a hallway that leads to the conference room. Inside you'll find the hostages and three insurgents."_ Torch glared as she heard Echo's voice direct her. She was now on a mission. " _If at all possible, do not make contact with hostiles before the friendlies are out of danger."_

Her IFF told her that Shevar was nearby as she made her way towards the back of the room. Her motion dampeners silenced her footsteps even more than the carpet. " _Marking targets as we pass."_ said Shevar as she slunk past several of the militaristic zealots. In the hallway, there were even more of the extremist men moving from a room down the hall to the lobby. Both of the cloaked figures stepped aside and hid behind large, potted Earth plants as the marching soldiers moved. Once the insurgents were through the doorway, the two continued their progress down the hall.

" _You're about three meters from the door. Marking it on your HUD."_ he said. And sure enough, an indicator appeared on the heads up display inside their helmets. " _The door is currently secured, so you may have to surprise them. But plan on getting a lot of attention if you do."_ said the overwatch.

Torch grumbled as she stepped up to the door and activated her own visor, allowing her to see heat signatures inside the enclosed room. "I've got five blazing signatures in the far right corner."

" _Likely the turians."_ said Shevar from right next to the woman. " _Our body temperatures are higher than humans."_

"On the left are five more bodies, still hot. There's also two humans standing, and one laying on the ground. It looks like something happened to one of them. Can't confirm if it's a hostage or hostile." she said as she placed a hand on the door. "Whatever is going on, it looks like the two standing humans are distracted. Now is a good opportunity to enter."

" _Fine, just be careful. And try not to harm any of the hostages."_ came the voice of Commander Tarkarian.

Given that this door was wooden, unlike the entrance door, Torch placed her hand on the grip of the door and slowly opened it. Sure enough, both of the armored humans had their backs to the entrance of the room.

OoOoO

 **2174 CE, September 26 ESD - 0015 EST  
Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

"Leave him alone you coward!" shouted the woman from her prone position in the other corner. Since punching him to the ground, the angry human began to kick the turian several times after the fact. Jasmine was helpless to do anything, and could only watch as the zealot beat the negotiator near senseless. Suddenly, the man stopped. Startled by his gasp, she looked up and to her shock, she saw blood pouring from his neck, just behind his head. His knees buckled as if kicked, making him fall to them heavily, before his head suddenly twisted around, letting out a loud crunching noise that nearly turned her stomach.

At the same time, a muffled gunshot could be heard from nearby the other unit. The restrained woman turned to see the other captor fall over dead as well with a hole through his throat. Suddenly, it made sense to her. Out of thin air, the two figures and dark armor appeared from thin air as their cloaking dropped. One was definitely a turian, with the curved helmet fit to a female turian's head, and greaves that accented digitigrade legs. While the other was likely a human. The one with the silenced pistol, after making sure that their target was dead, approached her. " _Jasmine Thomas?"_ asked the ghostly figure. She simply nodded. Immediately, the soldier reached behind her and freed her hands.

Meanwhile, while she was being let loose from her own restraints, the turian soldier was in the other corner waking Zannis. "Wha?" asked the negotiator before seeing another turian through the faceshield.

" _Zannis Koratus?"_ came her voice as the mysterious liberator freed him from his restraints.

"Y-Yeah, that's me." he said as he cleared his head.

" _Remember how to use one of these?"_ she asked as she grabbed the dead zealot's weapon and handed it to him.

"I remember enough." he groaned, flexing his jaw to relieve some of the soreness. Jasmine, as well as the other humans, stepped up and she had a weapon of her own. "You look comfortable." he remarked.

The woman chuckled, and popped the heatsink out before examining it, then popped it back into the weapon. "I'm familiar with them." she said with a slight grin.

"Military?" he asked, getting an amused nod. "Understood." Then he turned to the two infiltrators who were currently on their omnitools. "So, who do we have to thank for our rescue?"

" _I'm afraid you aren't out of the clear yet. We still have to get you out of the building without the rest of them knowing. We've got most of them distracted for a few minutes, so we're going to need you all to move fast. Understood?"_ came the human woman's voice.

Zannis nodded as he held the weapon tightly. His voice said that he didn't like weapons much. "Understood."

The turian soldier spoke again. " _Good. Then let's move quickly while we still have a chance."_

OoOoO

 **2174 CE, September 26 ESD - 0017 EST  
Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

The group had to split up in order to effectively keep the hostages safe. Torch held the hallway they currently traveled in, staying behind to make sure that if anyone was alerted, there wouldn't be any reinforcements. She laid behind one of the stone potted fixtures, her cloaking activated as she stared down the scope of her rifle. Meanwhile, Shevar took the hostages down the hallway on the opposite end, leading them quietly towards one of the three exits. According to Echo, it was the least guarded.

As the turian woman made her way ahead of her charges, she saw that the room opened up into a cavernous study. Shelves of data lined the walls and the floor was filled with desks that each had a terminal sitting on its surface, ready to be used by the West Wing colony crew. And patrolling between these desks were six of the armored religious invaders. They each had a weapon in their arms, some shotguns, some assault rifles. But all of them were extremely deadly to the negotiations crew behind her.

Shevar sighed to herself as she tagged all of the units on her HUD. "This may get messy..." Turning to the hostages, she pointed to a room that they were standing next to. Whispering as low as she could, she instructed them on her plan. "Stay in here until I come and get you. If I don't return, then wait them out and kill them when they enter." The human and turian negotiators nodded and went into the room with their crews following behind them. Once they were inside the unoccupied, but ransacked room, she turned back to the corner she had been holding and activated her stealth once more.

Turning the corner, the operative sprinted from cover and bolted straight for the first target. Triggering the omniblades on her wrists, she dashed up to him and jammed both of the razor sharp, hard-light blades into the man's softest, and least armored parts. The human cried in pain before immediately falling to the ground, his armor now oozing with blood. Immediately, five guns were raised and aimed directly at her. Despite not being able to see her directly, they knew someone was there. She activated her suit's jumpers and launched herself sideways to escape the fire, skidding to a halt behind one of the desks.

Flexing her powerful legs, she launched herself straight up into the air, and activated the jumpers again, cannoning her into one of the zealots as he continued to fire where his comrade had died. Her blade pierced his throat underneath the helmet, and again she dashed away with the aid of her propelling rockets. She was like a phantom to them. There one moment, then gone the next. All three stopped firing as they looked around back to back in a diamond pattern, trying to spot any sign, any distortion that would tell of her presence.

Finally, one of them looked towards her as her jets fired up again, but they were too late to respond. The turian ghost had landed right in the middle of them, making them all stumble and topple over as she hit them like a meteor. With all of them off balance, she reached out and slashed one across his weapon arm with one of the blades, making the human scream in agony before dropping his weapon. Quickly, she spun around and roundhouse kicked another, sending the zealot spinning and crashing through one of the desks. The last two tried to pull up their weapons, but she was faster. With both blades, she slashed across the chest armor of one of the men, making him stumble back, then spun and slashed across the other's helmet. Her hard-light broke the man's faceplate, temporarily blinding him as she twirled back to the other and jumped up, burying both of the blades deep into the man's throat. He gurgled as his blood bubbled up around the weapon. Then she spun one last time, and noticing that the blinded man had removed his helmet to see, she twirled forward and landed her pointed edge directly into his temple. He immediately dropped to the ground dead.

Finally, she turned to the human who was now laying on the ground, holding his limp arm in a pool of his own blood. Lifting her armored foot, she slammed her boot down onto the man's throat, crushing his windpipe, making him cry out with a strangled sob. She was ready to remove her cloaking and grab the hostages, or so she thought. As she turned around, she was confronted with a shotgun by the soldier she had roundhoused earlier. The man fired, and her shield sparked as the shotgun rounds bounced off, the force knocking her back against one of the undamaged desks. Activating her jets again, she thrust herself forward into a spear that blew the wind from his lungs. Once the pair were on the ground, it was a struggle for the control of the shotgun.

The shotgun seemed locked between the pair until Operative Shevar, who was currently on top of the man straddling him, flipped over onto her back. As a natural reaction, the zealous man rolled on top of her to gain dominance, only to find that the shotgun was now pointed directly at his chest. Pulling the trigger sent him flying back with a cavernous hole in his chest plate, and fresh blood gushing from the wound. She groaned as she got to her feet and stared at the dead man. Snorting out her nose, she finally turned away from the scene to the sounds of gunfire further down the hallway. Tossing the shotgun aside, she grabbed her rifle and dashed for the corner.

OoOoO

 **September 26 ESD - 0025 EST  
Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

Almost as soon as she saw the turian move around the corner, gunfire sounded. And as expected, soldiers from the other wings of the capitol building began sprinting towards the entrance and right into her kill zone. She already had four of them dead before they even realized that the fire was coming from behind them. Even with their shields, they couldn't stand up to her pinpoint accuracy with the Mantis. The only reprieve they had was when she needed to let the weapon cool, and now there were nearly seven men left hiding in rooms on either side of the hallway. Each time one of them tried to poke their head out, she responded by blasting his cranium across the wall.

One of the men went to throw a grenade in her direction, but Echo's hovering drone let out a jolt of electricity that made the man go as stiff as a board, seconds before she relieved him of his gray matter. Almost five minutes later, she could see the IFF of her partner in arms making her way down the hall. Keeping the insurgent's heads down, she stopped firing once the turian was within range of the doorway. She was confused as to why the operative was moving so close, until the words, " _Head down Torch!"_ came through the comms. Ducking down behind her planter, Torch flinched slightly as the explosion tore out the door frame and scattered bodies everywhere.

Once the dust had cleared, Torch watched as her partner walked to the door where the hostages were holed up. "Hostages are unharmed and are coming out of the west wing of the building. Have medical ready, and prepare to take the door off the hinges." said the infiltrator through her comm before locking away her Mantis.

OoOoO

 **September 26 ESD - 0050 EST  
Outside Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan , Shanxi**

Dozens of news reporters were finally let onto the scene, but not beyond a certain point, as the bodies were taken from the building. Most of them sprinted to get as close to the site as they could while staying outside of the 'do not cross' holo barrier. Zannis now had a blanket thrown over him by one of the medics as he and Jasmine were led from the building. Looking at the human curiously, he held up a corner of the blanket and stared at it as the reporters all over the barrier were filming with drones and crew members.

"What in the spirit's name is this for?" he asked curiously.

"It's for shock." said the dark-haired woman as she too had a blanket draped over her shoulders. The other turians elected to take their care in the temporary tent, away from the cameras. But right now, Zannis couldn't give a dead shatha whether they were filming him or not. He was alive, and so was she.

"Shock? Do they think I'm in shock?" he asked flabbergasted. She reached over and shoved him playfully. He knew that shock was something that happened to the human system when something traumatic happened. Turians had a similar biological response when taking serious physical harm, but he was surprised to learn that humans responded this way out of stress as well.

"You look shocked by the way you were holding that gun." said Jasmine with a jovial tone in her voice.

"I suppose. Then again, I hold a glass of whiskey with much more confidence." he joked as he handed the medic the blanket back.

Suddenly, she gave him a coy smile. "You'll have to show me sometime." she remarked, her hand sliding out and covering his gently. It was entirely out of view of the cameras, so there would be nobody reporting about " _Love by fire."_ Regardless, he stared at her hand grasping his gently, then slowly folded his fingers over hers.

Turning to the medic, he said, "Uhhh...I think I'd like that blanket back now." Much to his relief, the woman laughed loudly.


	3. Red Alert

OoO( 3 )OoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1825 EST  
SSV Alexandria Mess Hall - Czarnobóg Fleet Depot**

A good workout was the antidote for anything stressful in her life. She found out about this miracle cure when she was sixteen, and it had been her lifelong creed ever since. Bad breakups, stress at work, intolerable customer service, all of it melted away as she lifted weights and beat the sense out of the punching machine in the PT room. She had just finished with one such workout, and the glorious hot shower that followed, when she found herself on the way to the mess hall for a bit of an after-workout snack. From her side of the door, she could hear the rabble of the various servicemen chattering back and forth as they ate. Not wanting to disturb the crew, she opened the door quietly and stepped inside.

Despite her precautions, the small group of about six marines immediately fell silent. Unsure of the protocol so late in the afternoon, one of the troops by the name of Servicemen Tyson stood to call attention. But the woman shook her head and held up a hand to stop him. "Come on guys. I'm not even in uniform." she said.

The young man looked her up and down rather inappropriately before nodding. "You got it sir." he said, sitting back in his seat. As the staff lieutenant walked across the large room, she could hear them start talking once more.

The Mess Sergeant, a middle-aged man who looked every inch a military lifer, from his crew cut grey hair, to the worn in patches on his uniform, nodded to her as she stepped up to the wide window. "All done giving Old Stanley his beatin'?" asked the man as he leaned over the counter.

According to the scuttlebutt, the punching machine in this section of the ship was named after a crew member who had been stationed here several years ago. Serviceman Stanley apparently bragged endlessly about his combatives skill, but refused to show instead of tell. Then, after a particularly nasty breakup with a female serviceman he had been seeing, he reported to the medical wing after being given a black eye. While his medical record was supposed to be kept private, it soon spread around that the loud-mouthed serviceman had a pulled muscle and a missing tooth to match his shiner. Shortly after the incident, he was relocated to another vessel closer to Alliance Space. Ever since, the punching machine was labeled "Stanley" after the serviceman who got his behind handed to him by a new female recruit.

Jane Shepard chuckled lightly at the name, then nodded. "Found some negligent maintenance sergeants below decks earlier, so he definitely got his today." she said, referring to the rain of destruction she gave the old machine. "I'll just take a shake for now." she remarked as she looked over the menu for the night. Nodding his head, the older man turned to the shake machine and began making the protein-rich dessert. Looking over at the crew table again, the LT began to notice a few stares from both the men and women being aimed at her. "Am I really that interesting?" she asked teasingly.

Immediately, they all lowered their heads as if trying to play it cool. All except Serviceman Tyson, who fully turned to look at her. She spied the young man with her light blue eyes, wondering what he was up to. He had short, fade-cut blonde hair and green eyes that likely had many girls wooing in his wake. But finally he stood, and smiled at her. "We were actually curious if they put you in the N7 program as a morale booster for the guys."

"Oh my god..." said one of the other young men, who was holding his head as if to protect it from the falling brimstone of her wrath.

But Shepard smirked at the young man and turned to the mess sergeant. "Hadley, put a hold on that shake for me for a few minutes." she said confidently before walking forward. "Serviceman Tyson, front and center." she commanded sharply. Immediately, the marine complied, and locked himself at attention as she pierced him with her icy eyes. "On your face." she ordered flatly. She hadn't raised her voice, but she knew the weight it carried. Tyson dropped down onto his front and held himself up with his hands in the push-up rest position.

The redheaded lieutenant then dropped down in front of him and took up the same position. "Sir?" he asked, eyeing her curiously.

"I'm about to show you why I was chosen. Now, try to keep up." she said, then aimed her gaze at the remaining crew. "Two of you, over here and keep count on both of us." Like lightning, two of the service members jumped to their sides. Looking back at Tyson, she smiled briefly, then said, "Go." Both of them dropped at the same time, then lifted again. The lieutenant had to admit, pull-ups were more her go to for PT. But she wasn't about to walk out of the room while Tyson still had that grin on his face. Resorting to her usual method of taking her mind off the repetition, she began reciting different asari and turian phrases in her head. After a couple of minutes of push-ups, she noticed the serviceman start slowing down. His pale face was now flushed with exertion as his counter hit the sixty mark. Smiling, she looked at her own counter. "Locklear, sit on my back." she commanded.

The young woman stared at her wide-eyed, before nodding and doing just that. Turning around, she planted her behind directly on the lieutenant's back. Tyson just stared at her, bewildered as he caught his breath in the rest position. But Shepard continued, unabated. Soon, the young man fell on his face, groaning as he rolled onto his back and began to rub his arms. "That's ninety-two." said the counter for the marine.

Shepard chuckled, and continued her own push-ups without stopping. "What's the matter Tyson? Are you just here for morale?" she asked as she pushed off the ground again. Her arms were definitely burning, but nowhere near her limit. Though that limit would likely be coming much faster with the female counter on her back.

"No..." groaned the heavy-breathing serviceman.

"No what, serviceman?" she asked as she continued, moving even faster.

"No sir, I'm not just here for morale." he grumbled as he sat up.

After her earlier workout, she felt her arms tiring at a faster rate. Finally, she pushed up one last time and stopped in the rest position. Locklear took this as her cue to get off her superior officer, and stood up again. "I hope I've made my point Tyson." she said as the counter finally stood up again. "Count?"

"One hundred and twenty-five sir." said the young female serviceman as she stood at parade rest.

Tyson stood up, a look of defeated anguish on his face. "Crystal clear sir."

Standing again, Shepard stretched her arms across her chest. "Any time you want a rematch, just run your mouth again serviceman." she said with a playful smile before turning back to the mess sergeant again. "Now then, about that shake..."

Suddenly, before any of them could say another word, the omni-tool on her wrist lit up. She held the device up and read the scrolling text rapidly, her stomach clenching at the message. Serviceman Locklear eyed her curiously. "Everything alright sir?"

Shepard reached up and ran a hand through her short red hair. "All of you better get to your quarters and prepare to suit up." she replied, closing down the omni-tool as she jogged past the lot of them and headed for the door.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1830 EST  
SSV Alexandria COR - Czarnobóg Fleet Depot**

Practice allowed her to don her uniform in record time. Within minutes, she was standing at the door to the Command Operations Room, or COR, of the SSV Alexandria in her typical daily Alliance regalia. Her pants consisted of blue and grey camouflage made from a synthetic polymer that were tucked into the tops of her shin-high combat boots. Her top was a similarly woven, short-sleeved shirt with a thick layer of material on the front that made it easier to sync to her armor's internal systems.

Outside the door to the COR, she could hear that there were already tensions rising. Opening the mechanical portal, she stepped inside. Calling out over everyone's arguments, she shouted, "Captain Walker! Staff Lieutenant Shepard requesting permission to join the meeting."

The older man, who had slicked back grey hair with a small mustache above his lip, nodded to her and waved her over. "Punctual as ever Staff Lieutenant." Unlike herself, and the others in the room, the captain was the only one wearing his Class A formal uniform. He had enough medals on the breast of his coat pocket that it looked like it could stop a bullet. "Have a seat so we can get started."

Sitting in one of the open seats next to the Chief Medical Officer, she looked around at them all. Each and every one of them, with the exception of the captain, had a mildly perturbed look on their face. Whatever was going on, it was serious. "Forgive me Captain, I wasn't in uniform when I got the call. Could you update me on the situation?" she asked, turning her gaze towards him and his steel grey eyes.

Walker nodded as he brushed his fingers over his mustache. "The colony of Amaterasu has been attacked. In the main city of Okamiden, the main Civic Center has been bombed by an unknown culprit. We don't expect that there are many survivors."

Her eyes widened at the claim. "Bombed?" she asked, bewildered. The man just nodded. "Is the building still standing?"

"It seems to be holding for the moment. We are on our way there, and we're sending out teams for medical assistance and fire support if needed. I'm aware that your specialty is a lot less out in the open, but I will be sending you with Commander Jamal on the ground team to assist." he said, crossing his arms. Turning to the CMO, he eyed the man. "You will assign a team of medics to assist the civilians where they can be assisted."

CMO Kelly snorted, his eyes locked in a glare. "With all due respect sir, we should be out there looking for whoever did this as well." said the man, his anger clearly getting the better of them.

Ever the calm one, the captain replied with a level tone. "The second reason we are sending our Staff Lieutenant is because we need her eyes on the ground." said the man, looking back over at Shepard. "From my understanding, you've dealt with a lot of intel in relation to high risk targets." he implied, more of a question than a statement.

"Without going into too much detail, yes. I've worked with sensitive information regarding potential threats to civilian safety." she said, wondering where the captain was going with this.

The CO pulled out a datapad and handed it to her. "According to civilian law enforcement, this message was sent to their office approximately an hour before the attack. I was hoping you could give us some more information than we were able to piece together."

Taking the datapad, she read the English-written message aloud. "The time has come for the dawn of a new era. An era without the plague of your kind stepping on the bowed heads of those more deserving. Widen your eyes in awe as you witness the destruction of your kind in a rain of fire. And fear us, as when we are finished, we will build our new world on your bones." When she looked up again, every eye was on her.

"Anything you can glean from this?" asked the captain.

"It was written by a batarian." she said simply. The surprised looks around the table were almost comical, as everyone's eyebrows blasted upwards at the response.

"And how...may I ask, did you come to that conclusion?" asked Lieutenant Carbury, the Communications Officer aboard the ship.

"Well, on first look, from the wording, it appears as if the writer is promoting some kind of class war. The rich versus the poor, that kind of thing." she said, then pointed at a specific line on the datapad. "But when they say, "the plague of your kind, stepping on bowed heads," that is also something that batarians frequently refer to humanity as."

"That's kind of a stretch to base a full scale war on." said Carbury as he scratched his chin.

"Need I remind you of the name Mindoir, Lieutenant?" asked Shepard as she glared at the man. "If that didn't spark a full scale war with the batarians, I doubt the bombing of a building will."

"Can we stay on track here? I accept that it may seem like a possibility, but you were sure that it was written by a batarian. Someone with your skills doesn't put that much faith on a maybe." said the captain as he stared at Shepard.

She nodded, then pointed further down. "The phrase 'widen your eyes in awe' isn't something a human would commonly say. But it's an almost religious phrase to batarians. They consider their eyes to be the most important part of their body. They believe that they are given life through their eyes, and that a child isn't truly born until they open them. And when they die, their soul is supposed to leave from the eyes. It's highly disrespectful to mar the eyes of a dead batarian body, almost sacrilegious. So when they say 'widen your eyes in awe,' they're telling you take the message they are sending to your soul." she finished, passing the datapad back to the captain.

Silence reigned in the room for a minute before someone finally spoke. "How do you know this much about batarians?" asked Carbury as he eyed her curiously.

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to divulge that information, as it's highly classified Lieutenant." she said sharply in response.

"But they wrote it in English. Would a batarian take the time to actually learn a Terran language just to send this one message?" asked Kelly, the realization of the situation finally settling into them all.

"It's possible. But it's more likely that they got a human to translate it. Human pirates and raiders work with batarians all the time. And they would easily be able to hear what they're saying through translators and write it down in English." commented Shepard. Slowly, she could see them all coming to the same conclusion.

"Carbury, inform local authorities to detain any known batarians in the city for questioning. We have about ten minutes before reaching the planet. Shepard, Jamal, you two are going planetside in fifteen. Kelly, when Jamal says the ground is clear, I want you to send in your crew of medics. For now, you're all dismissed." said the captain as he stood from his seat. In response, everyone else stood as well.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1847 EST  
UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle - Amaterasu Orbit**

The tension in the back of the shuttle could be cut with a knife. She and Commander Jamal were sitting at the head of the troop loader with their backs to the pilot compartment, while their team of marines sat perpendicular along the sides of the vehicle chatting nervously. The majority were fairly new recruits, barely in service for two years. Only one of them, her former counter, Locklear, had even seen combat. And she had only been on a ship that had struck out against a lurking pirate vessel that tried to smuggle arms to the surface of a human colony. When confronted, they fired, and were quickly destroyed by the superior Alliance vessel.

Despite that, the young marine still had a nervous look on her face. This was her first mission on the ground with gun in hand. Fortunately for her, this would only likely turn out to be a rescue mission. Though that didn't always come out clean of trauma. Despite being deep in thought about the consequences of this mission on the crew, the calling of her name snapped the lieutenant back to attention.

"How about you LT? Would you ever kiss an alien?" asked Tyson, giving her the same smug grin he had given her earlier on the ship.

"Would I kiss an alien?" she asked, wondering how exactly this topic had come up. But knowing Tyson was only being his usual abrasive self to hide his nervousness, she responded in kind. "I'd kiss a batarian if it meant I didn't have to look at your face again, Tyson." she replied with a smirk. The marines around the bay laughed heartily, some of the other marines near the Corporal reaching over and shoving him at the jab.

When they all settled down again, he looked at her again. "Seriously though, do you think it'd be weird if someone were attracted to an alien?"

Shepard's eyebrow raised slightly, wondering if he were asking for his own benefit, or someone else's. "It depends on the alien. If we're talking varren or pyjacks, you can count me out. But if one of the Council races charmed me enough, sure."

"You don't think it would be weird?" asked Locklear in her thick English accent.

"It might feel odd at first. But then again, do you remember your first kiss feeling magical?" asked Shepard, getting another chuckle from the crowd. "Love isn't something that's determined by skin color, biology, or any other physical barriers. It's created from a connection. And as long as two people have a connection, whether asari, turian, or human, there's no physical weirdness that can't be overcome."

"Wasn't expecting something like that from you LT." said Tyson, who now had a grin on his face that confirmed her suspicions.

"There's a lot you don't know about me Tyson. I aim to keep it that way." she retorted good-naturedly.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the pilot's voice over the intercom. " _We're entering the atmosphere. Buckle your seat belts, kiddies. This part's never easy the first time."_

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1852 EST  
Outside Okamiden Civic Center - Okamiden, Amaterasu**

Five minutes later, the shuttle landed safely about a block from ground zero. When the shuttle doors opened, Commander Jamal stepped out into the sunlight, fully armored and his weapon ready to go. Shepard followed, as well as the troops behind him, and they were all immediately set upon by the local police.

The chief of police, a tall, wiry man by the name of Captain Vostock, greeted him with a grim smile. "Glad you all could make it. Wish it could be under better circumstances." he said as he shook Jamal's hand.

The commander nodded. " _What's the situation down here and where are we needed?"_

"We've got medical teams ready to go, but the last time we tried to enter, we were fired on from somewhere on the top floor. There's still smoke and rubble all over the damn place so we couldn't even pinpoint where they were." said the captain as he shifted his weight back and forth.

" _So you need us to clear the door?"_ asked the commander as he looked up at the entrance. Where there was formerly a row of neat, glass doors, there were now broken frames and shattered columns.

"It'd be mighty nice if you could. We haven't gotten a casualty count because our rescue teams can't set a foot inside." growled the officer as he wiped away a bit of sweat from his brow.

Shepard eyed the police captain curiously. He stood slightly taller than her, but he was scrawny enough that the regiment she'd put Tyson through would probably snap him in two. Most colonial police officers she knew from the colonial sector were either on the heavier side due to the lax nature of crime in the colonies, or kept themselves busy by working out, resulting in a very stacked frame. Using her omni-tool, she dialed herself into the other marines' helmet comms. "Remember what I said on the shuttle guys, when we're moving and not firing, keep your eyes open for anything suspicious."

" _10-4 LT."_ came the call from Locklear. The others followed her example, and acknowledged the order.

" _Alright, let's get ready to go. It looks like we've got a bit of cleaning to do before we can send in the medics."_ said Jamal through their helmets. Turning to her, the commander nodded. " _Lieutenant, since your specialty is scouting, you wanna go on ahead?"_ he asked.

Shepard nodded, then brought up her omni-tool and activated her cloaking device. All of the nearby police officers gasped in awe as she vanished right before them, and she began moving towards the front of the building. Reaching behind her, she pulled her assault rifle off her back and stepped over the rubble of the shattered building, making her way into the front door. Looking around the interior of the lobby, she saw nothing but broken bodies and debris littering the floor. The long, wooden desk at the end of the room had been torn to pieces by a chunk of ceiling that had collapsed. Pulling up her radio, she signalled the others. "Whoever was shooting at the police seems to have vanished."

" _The captain says they're likely hiding on the top floor."_ reported Jamal.

"Did he now?" she asked rhetorically before standing straight and turning towards the entrance. Suddenly, a gasp from nearby startled her, and she spun around, aiming her rifle at the location of the sound. The man she presumed dead, beneath a giant slab, was now reaching out for the ceiling.

"I...I hear you...please…" he gasped with horribly labored breaths.

Shepard immediately lowered the weapon and hit her radio. "We need a medical team in here now! We've got a live civilian who needs immediate attention!" she said as she moved forward and tried to lift the slab that was crushing his lower half. Despite her strength, she was barely able to budge the thick stone.

" _The captain said he's not sending anyone in until the building is clear. We're sending Tyson and Locklear in to assist in getting the civilian out."_ said Jamal, his tone filled with irritation. She could tell he was already getting tired of the man's lack of action.

It was only seconds before the two marines entered the site as well. Shepard immediately dropped her cloak so they could see her and barked orders. "Tyson, help me lift this! Locklear! You pull him out as soon as there's room!" The two silently did as they were told, and with Tyson's added strength, Locklear managed to slide the man's broken form free of the debris. Once Tyson was near enough, the man immediately reached over and grabbed, coughing heavily as he did.

"Please...my wife...she was upstairs…" he gasped out. But before he could say another word, the man went silent, a lifeless look on his face as he slumped over. Tyson slowly knelt over the body of the man, his hands shaking slightly in the armor.

"Too late. He's already gone. When I get back out there, the captain is getting his ass kicked." Shepard said angrily as she turned to the other two again. "You two can head on out…" she said, then noticed that Tyson wasn't moving. "Tyson, you alright?" she asked.

" _He...he's dead sir…"_ said the serviceman as he continued to stare at the man's hollow face.

"Yes he is." she said, kneeling next to him. Whether intentional or not, the young marine had left his mic hot, and the sound of him sniffling could be heard clearly. "You gonna be alright?" she asked, reaching down and grabbing his shoulder gently. But Tyson jerked away from her.

" _Didn't you hear what I said!? He's dead! He's fucking dead! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"_ shouted the young man as he reached up and grabbed his helmet. Locklear looked back and forth between Shepard and Tyson, a look of shock on her face.

Immediately, the staff lieutenant grabbed Tyson and stood him up straight. "At ease, soldier!"

" _Don't fucking touch me! How can you be so calm when he died right in front of you!?"_ screamed the marine as he struggled to get free. But even in his grief, he couldn't match her strength as she pinned him to the wall.

Holding him solidly against the concrete, she glared at him through the visor of her helmet and shouted back. "Because there are more people to rescue! And if I'm not calm, then they will die along with him!" All movement from the serviceman stopped and he stared at her silently through tear-stained eyes. "I understand what you're going through, but if we stop and leave now, more people will die. So I'm going to keep going." she said sternly as she released him from the wall. "If you want to go, then report to Commander Jamal outside." she ordered as she finally released him.

" _I'm going with, sir."_ said Locklear firmly as she reached back and took her own assault rifle off her back.

Tyson looked up at his female comrade, then at the officer before him. Reaching up, he slapped his helmet with both hands, then grabbed his own rifle from his back. " _Me too. Let's find whoever did this and make them pay for it."_

"Fine, but if you're going with, you're going to follow my orders. No exceptions. Understood?" she asked firmly.

With a grim look on his face, he nodded. " _Yes sir."  
_


	4. Diversion

OoO( 4 )OoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1903 EST  
Okamiden Civic Center - Okamiden, Amaterasu**

It was another slow few minutes for the three as they began to ascend the chipped and crumbling stairs of the building into the inside. The commander of the three made sure to leave no piece of rubble unturned for potential survivors, or hidden ambushers within the blasted and still smoking building. They had cleared two of the five floors when Shepard received a message from the commander outside.

"Shepard here." she said, her helmet blocking the sound from escaping to the others.

" _Hey LT, remember when you told the greens to look for anything suspicious?"_ asked Commander Jamal curiously.

She smirked slightly at the odd question. "It was ten minutes ago Commander, of course I do. Why do you ask?" she asked, turning another corner as she stepped near the stairs further up. As she did, she noticed her communicator start to crackle. Holding up her hand, the other two stopped nervously.

" _Well, I got the chief's story from him. And apparently all the gunfire coming from the building happened before any of the other officers got here. He's the only witness to it."_ came the man's statement as his voice turned to annoyance. " _And he keeps asking why the rest of us aren't going in with you."_

She sighed to herself and lowered her weapon. "I think I know what's going on…" she said as she looked up the stairs.

" _If you intend to keep searching, then keep your head down. This guy's shadier than a batarian with sunglasses."_ he said, getting a chuckle out of her at the image.

"Yes sir. In the meantime, we're going to go dark for a few. The last few floors have a jamming signal, so my omni-tool is going haywire. I'll let you know what's happening as soon as we find out what's causing it." she remarked, then cut the comm. But as soon as she did, she heard a scuffle from upstairs, and her weapon was immediately aimed up again. "Get ready, we've got movement!" she snapped over the channel shared by the three. "I'm going to be relying on voice from now on, so keep your ears open."

"Yes sir!" they both shouted over the radio before disabling the internal comms. Immediately the three swarmed up the stairs, Shepard moving like a shadow on the rubble of the stairs. The two behind her were definitely less graceful, but reached the top regardless. Immediately, she heard gasping and sobbing from the room next to them. She waved her fingers towards the door where the sound was coming from and they moved in ready to fire.

But as soon as she saw the runner, she raised her hand again. "Lower your weapons!" she snapped, both of them following her orders as if they were robotic. But both of the new soldiers went wide eyed as they saw a live asari for the first time. She was a dark shade of blue, like the sea during a storm, and her scalp held no hair like a human, but instead smooth crests that folded back, looking like the effect of a woman rising from water with her hair slicked back.

But their awe at her beauty was quickly shattered when they realized that she was holding a gash in her sweater that was soaked in thick purple liquid. Her breathing was also heavily labored between her sobs, her cries of pain echoing in their heads as she tried to crawl away from them. The effect was gut wrenching, horrifying almost, to see someone of such beauty and grace covered in her own blood. When Shepard heard gasping words of agony rapidly firing from the woman's mouth, she immediately realized that the translators were down as well due to whatever was jamming the signal.

Tyson stood slack jawed as he stared at her. "What is she saying? And why is she crawling away?" he asked incredulously.

"She's begging for her life. Now shut up serviceman." said Shepard as she put her weapon away and reached up to remove her helmet.

"Sir?" asked Locklear as she eyed their current commanding officer. But the redhead ignored them both and sat her helmet on the ground.

Taking a step towards the injured woman, the lieutenant held her hands up to show she was unarmed. "Ta'lavaloa ma'li lira." she said, getting shocked looks from both of the troops as she spoke in an alien tongue. "Nah'savo s'a Jane. Se'la?" she asked as she took another step forward.

Tyson eyed the woman and noticed that she had stopped crawling away and had her gaze, which was slightly less terrified, now fixed on the lieutenant. "N-Ne'ala."

"Ne'ala...saea'za yenya." said Shepard as she slowly reached down and opened a small compartment on her armor. Ever so slowly, she reached inside and pulled out a medigel applicator, then gently tossed it to the woman. Immediately, the asari grabbed it, and began trying to apply it with her bloodied hands. But Shepard took another step forward and continued to speak firmly in the foreign tongue. "Se'yeya, loasa'sa!"

But the woman cried out in despair. "Nasala k'itya!"

Shepard went wide eyed at the blue woman's words, then sprinted forward and took the medigel applicator herself. In one swift, smooth movement, she applied gel to the wound. Locklear and Tyson both stepped forward, unsure of what to do. "LT...can we help?" asked Locklear nervously as she eyed the asari woman, who seemed to have calmed immensely now.

"Hopefully she'll be fine now. She's pregnant, but the wound didn't seem to cut deep." said Shepard as she held up a hand for them to stop. As the words hit their ears, they both stopped and stared at the bloody gut wound she was nursing. Suddenly, the blood coated hand of the now smiling asari woman reached up and touched Shepard's cheek. Both soldiers gasped in shock as the blue woman's eyes darkened to almost coal black.

" _Thank you...for saving me, and my child. Please...stop them."_ The voice she heard was in her head, but it was definitely the asari speaking. Shepard stared into her abyssal eyes, and nodded. " _Embrace...eternity."_ came the voice again, and before she realized what was happening, Shepard found herself outside the building again.

OoOoO

 **? CE, ? ESD – ? EST  
Outside Okamiden Civic Center - Okamiden, Amaterasu**

Shepard was late for work due to another morning in front of the toilet, but each pain she had, and each sickness she was afflicted with was a sign that her gift was coming. So even with the dull aching chest pains that the sickness gave her, she was still glowing with happiness as she headed to work. She would have to cut through an alley, but it was fine. This close to the inner city, one was likely to only run into a stray cat in the dark confines of the restrictive corridors.

But her optimism hadn't proven correct this time. As she approached the alley, she heard voices and hushed tones. Stopping for a moment, she could make out some of the words, but only barely.

"The message was sent. Now it's your turn." said one of the odd figures in a strangely deep voice.

"Yeah yeah, I get it. Then after this, we're done. I ain't doin' that shit no more." snapped back the other. "And afterwards, don't let me catch your four eyes on this world anymore. You understand?"

"After today, I'll have no reason to. Just get it done. We'll be watching to make sure you don't screw this up." said the other with a note of finality. Shepard didn't like the the sound of the conversation she was hearing, but she had to get through. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard, and at least one of the figures had left. Stepping into the alley, she made her way down the dark shortcut and walked past one of the men that was still standing there, now smoking a cigarette, as humans called them. Getting a good look at his face, she promised to report him once she got to work.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1920 EST  
Outside Okamiden Civic Center - Okamiden, Amaterasu**

"They been in there a while. You ain't gonna check on 'em?" asked the chief as he eyed Commander Jamal.

The Alliance officer glared at the man through his face shield, ready to squeeze the man's head off his shoulders if he asked such a stupid question again. "I'll assume you're too stupid to know what scouting is, and not answer your question. Ever." he snapped as he looked up at the building. The chief grumbled as the other officers in the area sighed in frustration. Even the medical staff were starting to get impatient. But it was right then that the commander finally got the call he was waiting for. "Lieutenant, what's the SITREP!"

"Is that them?" asked the chief with a perturbed look on his face.

Ignoring the man, Jamal turned away and activated his in-helmet comm so that he couldn't be heard. The chief sighed heavily and looked up at the building. But it wasn't long before the commander turned back and eyed his right pocket. "They're fine. Just updating us for the moment." he said with a heavy sigh. "Look Chief, I'm sorry about my attitude. It's just the magnitude of the situation has me on edge. I want to apologize." said the man as he held his right hand forward.

The police chief eyed the Alliance officer up and down, before smirking nervously. "I get ya. It's got all of us wired." he said as he took his right hand out of his pocket and grasped Jamal's armored hand. But he winced in pain as soon as the grip became crushing. "What the hell are you doing!?" he asked, trying to pry his hand away. Suddenly, everyone in the area gasped in awe as a miniature comm unit magically floated into the air out of the police chief's pocket.

After a few seconds floating, Shepard materialized out of thin air, causing the whole police force to gasp in shock. She removed her helmet and set it on top of one of the vehicles before grabbing the chief and slamming him face first into the shuttle that brought them here. "You have ten seconds to tell me who you were dealing with, and where I can find them. Or else I'll make you go up to that top floor yourself!" she shouted angrily as she twisted the man's arm.

Immediately, every police officer present drew their weapons and aimed them directly at Shepard. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to release the Chief, and put your hands behind your head!" shouted the deputy.

But Commander Jamal stood in the way and stared down at the smaller man. "I am Alliance Staff Commander Tiberius Jamal of the SSV Alexandria, and I'm handing you a direct order from the Systems Alliance to lower your weapons, or be detained. The Police Chief is being interrogated under suspicion of conspiracy to commit terrorism, first degree murder, and treason!" he shouted as the remainder of the Alliance squad nearby, including the medics that had showed up, all armed themselves.

The deputy began to sweat as he saw the platoons of armored soldiers staring down at him from behind their plated glass helmets. But, the choice was made for him. Shepard kicked the chief's legs out from under him and brought up her omni-tool. "Here, I'll make the choice easy for you." she snapped as she pressed a few buttons. She then raised her arm towards the police, and overloaded all of the heatsinks in their weapons, automatically making them eject from the sides of the weapons.

Every member of the police present watched any hopes they had of denying the Alliance fall with the sinks. Soon, every one of them put their weapons away in response. "Glad you've come to your senses." sighed Jamal as he turned to Shepard, who now had the man's arm wrenched behind his back.

"Now then, you have ten seconds to answer my questions before I start removing a piece of you for every person you killed in that building." she said coldly as she handed the communicator to Jamal and activated the omniblade on her wrist.

"I didn't kill anyone!" shouted the man as he felt his arm crushing under her armored weight.

"Then tell me who did!" she shouted as the blade scraped against his fingers.

"I...I...I want a lawyer!" squealed the man. "Everyone here can see you! They can see you threatening me! You'll go to prison for life!" shouted the man in anguish.

Suddenly, Shepard's eyes widened slightly as she recalled the vision that the asari woman had let her experience through melding. She finally smiled to herself and slid the omniblade away from him. "Last chance to cooperate. If we find him without your help, you're going to the deepest pit in the depths of Niflheim Colony. You know that, right?"

"Fuck you bitch! I'll have your uniform burning at the stake!" snarled the man viciously.

But Shepard just laughed and released him from her hold. Turning to an NCO nearby, she nodded towards the groveling man. "Gunny, make sure he uses his right to remain silent." she ordered as she turned to the commander.

"You look like you got what you wanted out of him." commented the man to his pale-skinned counterpart.

"It's a long story, but I saw a conversation happen between the chief and the actual orchestrator of the attacks. He told the chief that he'd be watching, so we need to find and search any location nearby that could have a window that's far enough away to not be affected by the blast, but close enough to still see us here." she reported to the wide-eyed commander. "We also need EOD here immediately. Both ours, and the civilians if possible."

Jamal scratched his fade-cut head at the claim, but turned to the nearby Operations Chief. After giving them the orders she offered, he turned back to her. "So, now that you've got a moment, would you mind showing me this video you saw?" he asked curiously.

Shepard looked over as the two soldiers that had followed her into the building now stood on either side of the asari woman as the medical team prepared her for hospitalization. They had snuck her out while everyone was focused on the capture of the police chief. "It wasn't a video." she remarked.

Jamal followed her eyes and looked up at the woman as well. "Oh...I see. Witness testimony then." he said, using air quotes. She eyed him oddly, and he just chuckled. "I had an asari girlfriend for a short time, back when humans were new, exciting, and exotic. She let me experience quite a number of unique things before she moved on to something new."

"Aha." acknowledged Shepard in amusement. "In any case, she showed me a number of things. When she was first hit with the blast, she tried getting to the infirmary on the top floor, but she ended up running into another bomb on the top floor. A fairly old school one with an electronic detonator." she said as she held out her hand for the chief's comm unit.

He handed it to her wide eyed, staring as he began to scan it. "I'm surprised she survived at all."

"She had to use the bathroom frequently because she's pregnant. The stalls saved her from most of the blast, but she didn't get away without injury. In any case, when she found the bomb, she tried to escape as quickly as she could. But with her injury, blood loss, and a bombed out obstacle course in your way, she didn't make it very far. That's when she ran into us." said the lieutenant as she finished scanning the device. "Looks like he was waiting for all of us Alliance to head inside before detonating it."

"But...why? Why would a human help batarians kill other humans?" asked the Commander as the people around them moved like bees in a hive.

"Could be money. But the likely scenario is drugs. I noticed when we landed that he showed signs of a red sand user." she said, crossing her arms casually as she answered his questions.

Jamal sighed to himself as he crossed his arms. "I haven't seen this level of depravity since Mindoir." said the older man.

"It's not over." snapped Shepard, getting a curious look from the man. "Look, I can't give you specifics. But I've worked with...and against batarians for a long time. A batarian doesn't use the term 'widen your eyes in awe' if they're just blowing up a building, unless the point was made against the owners, or the building itself. When they say it, it's to make a deadly point against someone, and that someone is humanity. So this building, as tragic as it is, is only the beginning."

"So, we have to find the perpetrator and make him talk." said the commander as he eyed Shepard. "Do you think you can do that before whatever he has planned goes off?"

She glared at the ground in anger. "I know exactly how to get the information from him."

"Sir!" shouted the gunnery chief as they approached.

"What is it?" asked the commander who turned to salute the NCO.

"We just got a call from Squad B. They said they confronted someone on Block 17 to the west and were fired on." said the gunnery chief, sounding a bit winded.

"Looks like we've got our suspect." said Shepard, who got a nod from Jamal. "Where are they now?"

"In an alley on the north side of the block. He's been fighting them off with gunfire as of yet, but they said that he likely has explosives on him." reported the NCO as he turned to the lieutenant.

Shepard immediately brought up a map of the block on her omni-tool and nodded to Jamal. "Tell them to keep pushing him back down that alley. Use flashbangs, concussions, any kind of non-lethal alternative they have to drive him further north." she said as she reached back and grabbed the sniper rifle from her back.

"You have a plan?" he asked curiously as he followed her.

"Yes. Care to go for a drive?" she asked with a smirk.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1925 EST  
Block 17 Market District - Okamiden, Amaterasu**

Disaster is the only word he could find to describe his current situation. It had all been so simple, but somehow the human had screwed everything up. Now, as he tried to exit the building, he was confronted by the human police. As they approached, he immediately pulled up his weapon and fired indiscriminately. The pair ran for cover as they returned fire, but he was already around the corner and running through the alley.

As he burst out the other side, there were two more aiming weapons and firing at him from down the streets. No doubt the other two had called for backup. He grunted and sprinted further up the street before taking another alley. He would have to find a car if he wished to escape to the safehouse. Unfortunately, the car he typically used was back in the building, sitting uselessly in the lot underneath. As he sprinted for cover behind a group of topiary bushes, he heard yelling ahead of him. He knew if he continued down this path, they'd find him for sure. His only option was to cut through another damn alley and hope the police had yet to close it off.

He smirked as he stepped into the alley and saw a civilian climbing quickly into an aircar parked outside of the building they were next to. Immediately raising his weapon, he fired at the human, hitting them in the leg and shoulder with the automatic firing weapon and rushed towards the door of the vehicle. Normally, he'd never have let the human live, but he didn't have the time to be thorough at the moment. He just slammed the door shut and started the vehicle. Two officers blocked his path as the vehicle floated into the air, but he laughed as he hit the accelerator and flew directly towards them. They fired at the car, but in their panicked rush to get out of the alley, they didn't come anywhere close to hitting him. Finally, he broke free of the dark, dank alleyway and flew into the sky to freedom. His vehicle rose above the streets and buildings. He cheered ecstatically as he flow low over the buildings.

But his stomach plummeted when the engine on the back left of the vehicle erupted in fire, the jets lifting the vehicle sputtering horribly as he began losing altitude again. The vehicle began spinning, and he wrestled for control, but all he could do was steer in a circle as the engines, now consumed in flames, refused to allow flight anymore. Aiming the aircar towards an alley, it slammed into the concrete, causing catastrophic damage to the front end and causing him to slam his head into the windshield. He felt groggy, his vision blurred, and felt as if he had broken a rib or two, but his determination beat any pain he was experiencing. Reaching over, he opened the car door and it simply fell off the frame entirely. Cursing, the batarian stepped out of the vehicle and looked towards the end of the car which had burst into the flames. Using his four large eyes, he saw what had happened. There was a single bullet hole that led directly into the engine compartment.

Growling to himself, and wondering who in Balakgar's name could have pulled off such a shot while he was flying at such speeds, he turned away from the vehicle intending to keep moving. But he backpedaled immediately as he saw Alliance soldiers enter the street through the use of dropships. Letting out a panicked breath, he turned and sprinted down the alley he landed in, but stopped when he saw that it was a closed pathway, with a brick wall stopping his progress. Turning back, he pulled out his weapon and fired at the dropship that landed in front of the alley, then ducked behind the smoldering vehicle. "If I'm going to go, then they're going with me." he growled as he brought up his omni-tool and started arming the bomb he had strapped to his chest. But suddenly, all of his equipment went dark. "Shakas...what..."

Suddenly, he felt the force of a sledgehammer hit him in his chin, and he flew back, slamming against the alley wall next to the vehicle. Stars filled his eyes as he looked around for the culprit, but couldn't see anyone. Then the invisible foe grabbed him by the throat and began dragging him behind the car, away from the viewing eyes of the others. He froze as a voice hit his ears, only loud enough for him to hear. _"You have ten seconds to tell me what your plan is, or I'm going to rip every eye you have out of your head and crush it right in front of you."_ came the spectral cold tone.

Now he understood. Someone was in camouflage. The injured batarian simply smiled and laughed. "I know your human Geneva Conventions. And I know your filthy race follows the Citadel Treaty of Peace as well. You don't have the guts to-" he started, but to his horror, something invisible jammed into his lower left eye. He roared in agony, reaching up to grab whatever it was. But it was too late. Through tears and insufferable pain, he saw his own ocular orb floating right in front of him. Like promised, the phantom attacker squeezed it until it was nothing but gelatin.

 _"Ten more seconds, and I get another one. Do I make myself clear?"_ asked the voice again.

"Yes! Hells yes! Balakgar save me yes!" he shouted, still crying at having himself desecrated in such a way.

"Good. Now tell me everything." said the voice in a tone of such finality that he almost guaranteed he would be dead when he stopped talking.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD – 1937 EST  
Communications Center - Czarnobóg Fleet Depot**

Days on the fleet depot typically flew by. Nothing much of interest happened here for one of the communications officers on board. She relayed messages and orders from one ship to another, handled training schedules directed by Alliance Command and passed them out, and otherwise had plenty of in between time.

It was during one such stretch of inactivity that her console decided to start ringing loudly. She rolled her eyes as the ringing interrupted her surfing of the extranet. But she turned her omni-tool off and put her headset back on before finally hitting the button to answer. "Thank you for calling the Czarnobóg Fleet Depot, this is Serviceman First Class Irvine speaking, how may I-"

The rapid voice on the call cut her off however. " _Serviceman! This is Captain Walker of the SSV Alexandria! We have reports of a hotel alpha headed your way! Alert the commander and have them ready any of the remaining ships and fighters for contact! Do you understand!?"_ shouted the captain through the radio.

The young recruit immediately stood to her feet. "Yes sir! Raising alert levels now!"

" _Good. We'll be back there shortly to help fend them off. SSV Alexandria out."_ he said, then cut the communications.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD - 1945 EST  
Shinto Jump Corridor**

Humans. They were so easy to manipulate, so easy to distract. One little incident and the humans flocked to their own injured so quickly that they would leave some of their own kind defenseless just to save one that was already injured. But that's not how batarians survived. It was survival of the fittest, the finest, the highest of the Hegemony. Anyone beneath that line was disposable. And today, he was going to prove to the Hegemon that he wasn't disposable.

Taking advantage of their eagerness to help the weak, he now had the entire fleet distracted. With the plan on the planet going down, he would strike two blows against the scourge known as the Alliance. Their soldiers would get annihilated in the explosion of a building, and while they were cleaning up that mess, he would strike at their defenseless depot. It was all so easy.

Turning to his bridge crew, the captain shouted, "Are you ready to make these humans pay!?" Loud cheers followed, all of them chanting a well known batarian war cry.

"Balakgar'halak!" they shouted again and again.

The captain raised his arms for silence, and immediately the chanting died down. "For too long this plague of humanity has littered our worlds! No more! Now, we send a message! One of fear, one of war! One that will reach the very core of their homeworld! We will cleanse them from space and claim our rightful place as conquerors of the Verge!" Again, his men shouted the chant once in response. "Now, we approach. Be ready to exact vengeance on this infestation!" he said as he turned back to the viewport that showed them racing through the mass effect corridor created by the relay.

"Sire, we'll be clearing the relay in ten seconds." said the navigation officer.

The captain merely nodded, continuing to keep all four eyes locked on the view port. As the countdown started, his anticipation doubled with each number. Finally, they cleared the relay and landed on the other side, all of his ships following him and clearing as well. But as soon as they were free of the corridor. Their screens lit up with red.

"Sire! We are detecting Alliance ships! Three cruisers, and a carrier releasing hundreds of fighters!" shouted the navigator.

The batarians eyes widened and his stomach plummeted as he saw each and every ship looking directly at them. The plan had failed. "Tel'forn, how long til we can jump again?" he asked nervously.

"F-Five minutes sir." responded the man from his console.

But he just sighed to himself, holding his hands behind his back as a screen lit up behind him. " _This is Admiral Niyol Begaye aboard the SSV Jerusalem. You are now suspects in a conspiracy to destroy an Alliance space station, and you will hand yourselves over without hostility, or you will be destroyed where you stand. What is your response?"_ asked the bronze-skinned human as he glared at the captain from the holo screen.

The batarian let out a sigh of despair as he reached forward to the console and turned the comm off, making the Admiral vanish from the screen. "If we are going out, we're going out fighting against the scourge!" he shouted as he turned to his men. But one look told him he was the only one enthused about the idea.

"I don't think so captain." said one of the other men, his weapons specialist.

"What the hell are you saying?" asked the captain angrily as he glared at the man, trying to use his body language to intimidate the man.

But it wasn't working. The weaponmaster pulled a long bladed weapon from the back of his belt, then stepped forward and jammed it into the captain's stomach. "I agreed to this because you said it would be easy pickings. I'm not dying for your reckless cause." he growled as he stared the gasping man directly in the eyes.

All of the other members of the bridge command just sat and watched, dumbstruck by the action. "You'll...pay…" choked out the captain. But the killer just shoved him off the blade and sheathed it back on his belt.

"Anyone else want to object?" he asked threateningly. Nobody responded, so he sat in the captain's former chair and opened the comm to find the same piercing-eyed Admiral from before. "You want us to surrender, we're surrendering."

" _I'm glad to hear you aren't stupid. Your ship will soon be boarded and any hostilities will result in death. I hope that sinks in for when we arrive."_ said the admiral. He was about to close the comms, but the weaponmaster stopped him.

"Wait...I speak for my ship. I cannot control the others. So be prepared for them, and do not punish us for their actions." he said hopefully.

The human admiral stared at him for a long moment before nodding. " _Disable your ship's shields and weapons and stay exactly where you are. If you move as much as a meter on our scanners, we'll turn you into a new nebula. Give the rest of your men my offer, and in ten minutes we will come to board."_ he ordered, then cut off the comms.

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 2 ESD - 1949 EST  
SSV Jerusalem Bridge - Czarnobóg Fleet Depot**

Admiral Begaye stood at his post in the CIC of the cruiser he was aboard, staring out of the viewport at the vast expanse of space between them and the relay. As he stood, his XO approached.

"Admiral, orders?" asked the young man.

"Ready weapons to fire on a seconds notice, and have the other ships do the same. Coordinate targets on all ships that came through the relay, and if one fires, return fire and turn them into cosmic dust." he snapped. "And close the viewports in case they try anything tricky."

"On it sir." said the XO as he headed off the the communications officer.

But the Admiral still stared, even as the grates were closing. Finally, he looked down and opened the holo display of their positions. As five minutes passed, he noticed some of the ships moving towards the fleet. "It seems we have some that do not wish to surrender. Target moving ships and fire. Leave nothing left of their ships."

OoOoO

 **2175 CE, March 5 ESD - 1229 EST  
Crowell Highschool - Moselle Valley, Sirona - 61 Ursae Majoris** **System**  
 **  
**Another day comes, another day goes. They were all just as pointless. Councillors constantly talking to her about her future, and what she should do with it. But they were all crap. She knew exactly what she was doing with her future, and no stuffed shirt loser wearing a bowtie was going to change that. She was Alliance to the core. It ran in her blood, she ate it, and drank it for sustenance. She knew the Soldier's Creed, she read the code of conduct, UCMJ, officer training manuals, all of it. She devoured anything related to the Alliance.

But they didn't like that. They liked to dance around pointing out that she was a Williams by saying things like, "The Alliance isn't the best career choice." But she didn't care. It was her calling, and she was going to enlist as soon as she was free from the restraints of highschool. She sighed to herself as her xenoscience teacher droned on about the difference between habitats on Thessia and Earth.

But the teacher stopped as she got a call from the head office. Usually that meant early release, something she was excited about. Flipping her long, dark hair out of her face, she reached down for her bag. But when the teacher hung up the phone, she didn't announce anything. Instead, she turned around and was messing with the vid screen on the wall. She watched curiously until finally the teacher managed to turn the device on.

Then her eyes widened as she saw the news playing on the local news channel. " _-as you can see, there was minimal damage to the station and no casualties in the Alliance. However, only one of the attacking ships survived, leading to the capture of twenty-six enemy insurgents...who I am now being told are batarians! That's right, we now have batarians in custody for the attack on both Okamiden's main Civic Center as well as the failed attempt to destroy the neighboring Alliance Czarnobóg Fleet Depot. Word is now we actually have live video of a witness to the destruction planetside. Here it is…"_

The young woman watched wide eyed as she saw the blue, crested woman speak meekly into the camera. " _Can you tell us what happened?"_ asked the reporter.

The asari nodded slightly. " _It...it all happened so fast. One moment I was in my office. Then I went to use the restroom and the whole building seemed like it caved in. When I recovered enough to move, I stumbled into another bomb...I was told it was going to be used on the Alliance soldiers who went into the building. But thanks to my rescuer, I was not only able to recover from my wounds, but she prevented any more innocent deaths."_

" _Can you tell us who she is?"_ asked the reporter as the drone she was using to record zoomed in a bit on the asari woman.

" _I'm afraid I can't. She asked me to keep it to myself. But I did want to properly thank her."_ she said as she turned fully to the camera. " _Wherever you are out there, thank you. You saved me, you saved my baby, and you're my hero. My shepherd. I'll never forget what you've done."_

" _Alright. Thank you Miss Ne'ala…"_ said the reporter as she turned away from the asari who appeared to be near tears.

The highschool girl just stared at the screen for a moment as the news continued. "Shepherd huh?" she asked as she leaned her face onto her hand. "Cool."


	5. Shore Leave Cancelled

OoO( 5 )OoO

 **2176 CE, April 7 ESD - 2236 EST  
Apartment 26, Building 3 - Block 225 - Illyria, Elysium**

"Holy shit...that was an experience." said the human as he flopped back against his pillow.

The asari sitting on the bed next to him just looked back with a playful grin. "I wasn't kidding when I said that we bring more than sex to the table." she said as she looked away from his adoring gaze. She sighed to herself as she reached up and rubbed the small locket around her neck.

"Arina, what's the matter? Did you not get enough?" asked the man curiously, giving her a gaze implying he was ready to go again.

She looked at him in surprise, then shook her crested head. "No! It's not that! I just...I'm having family issues right now." she said as she turned in the bed and laid down next to him.

He nuzzled up to her affectionately and began to stroke her soft blue skin. "Don't worry babe. Tonight it's just you and me." he purred as his heavy-lidded eyes began to close. She gave him a reassuring smile and nodded, then ran her delicate fingers across his forehead, giving him assurance.

"Alright." But even his words did nothing to quell her worry. She laid next to him for a few long minutes before the man was snoring. And as much as she wanted to stay in the bed with him, she knew she couldn't. After using her biotic touch to assure herself that he was asleep, she silently removed herself from his bed, then quietly put her clothes back on. Once she was fully garbed again, she headed to the front door, where she found what she was looking for. Reaching into the pockets of his coat that was hanging from the coat rack, she began rummaging around, searching for his keycard.

It didn't take long before she found the ID that he used to get into his office. Holding it up, she opened the omni-tool on her arm and scanned it thoroughly using the program she was given. It took seconds before it copied all the data on the card and stored it in the memory. Sighing to herself, she grabbed her own jacket, and left the man to his pleasant dreams.

After leaving the apartment, it took a few flights of steps before she stepped out of the shelter of the building. But once she was free of the apartment complex and into the streets, she stopped as a ground car pulled up in front of her. The door popped open and a batarian scooted to the side to give her room to sit. With a heavy heart, she climbed into the vehicle and closed the door. The car started driving shortly after, and the figure next to her spoke.

"You got the data?" he asked, and she simply nodded in response. "Let me see it." he ordered as he held out his hand. She handed over the omni-tool hesitantly and he slid it onto his wrist. Activating it, he began looking through the data on the hard-light device. "Very good. Your daughter's safety has now been assured. Just cooperate with us a bit longer, and you two will be free to go."

She squeezed her eyes shut, regret tearing at her insides. Despite their vague explanations about what the data was being used for, she knew exactly what they had in mind. She had worked at the Department of Colony Defense for a long while, and there was only one thing a kidnapper would want from that sector. They wanted the defense guns shut down. That meant an invasion, and the deaths of many, and worse, slavery for many more if the batarians were involved. She felt tears begin to roll down her face as she pictured the chaos that her bargain would cause, the death, terror, and destruction of lives of many more.

Looking towards the batarian who now held the device with her tear-stained eyes. "No…"

He stared at her for a moment before speaking. "No what?"

"You can't!" she cried angrily. "Whatever you're doing to the defenses, you can't! There'll be a massacre!"

He just chuckled and closed down the device. "That's the idea blue-tits. But it's too late to have regrets now. We have the data, and we're going to use it."

She growled angrily as her body started to glow a magical blue color. He reached down for his weapon, but it was too late. She had lashed out and the force from her biotic attack blasted him through the ground car door. The car screeched to a halt in the middle of the street as the batarian tumbled along the paved road. When the car stopped, got out and lifted him into the air with her dark energy, then she immediately slammed him to the ground with a sickening crunch.

She would destroy the device. As much as it killed her inside to doom her daughter, she could not let so many suffer because of these killers. But as soon as she took a step forward to grab the device, she felt a chokehold around her throat. The driver of the car had surprised her, his arm putting a crushing force on her throat, but he would not be able to overpower her biotics.

That was when she saw a small aerosol container pointing directly at her face. The attacker then sprayed, and everything started to fade as the inhalant filled her senses. Her eyes slowly shifted to black, as they did during a melding and her mind scattered outwards, spinning in the galaxy as if she had suddenly become the goddess.

The batarian driver growled and threw her towards the car where she slammed into the side and fell onto her rear end. But if she was experiencing any pain from the act, then she did not show it. She still had the same dreamy look on her face. "Damn asari. Knew she was too fragile to go through with it. Should have picked a damn human." he growled as he threw her limp form into the back of the car. Walking out, he then grabbed the device from the dead batarian's arm and left him in the street as he drove off into the night.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 0842 EST  
Department of Colony Defense - Illyria, Elysium**

Pissed off. That's what kind of mood he was in as he stared at the stupid fake plant on his desk. Charles Roberts was the current Chief of Operations for the Colony Defense Board on the first and oldest human colony in the Skyllian Verge. And after an amazing night of wining, dining, and a very much needed dessert, his communicator nearly exploded in morning with some bad news. Now, he sat in his office, ready to pull his hair out as he stared at the stupid plant. Finally getting sick of looking at the thing, he reached up and backhanded it, sending it flying into the foot locker next to his door. He really shouldn't have, but his anger was practically humidifying the room at the moment.

First, there was the bug that was found in the colony defense matrix. Somehow, the goddamn thing had gotten into the systems through an external device that had snuck through their screening process. That was one kick in the pants from the brass, because as a result, the GARDIAN defense towers' targeting systems were offline. They could still fire, but they'd more likely hit one of the skyscrapers throughout the city than any incoming hostiles.

On top of that were rumors of pirate activity on the edges of the Skyllian Verge. They were always told by the snobby Council races that they were outside Citadel Space, and would have to do their own policing in the area since they colonized the planet. It didn't help matters that the patch of space they were currently floating in had a bunch of four-eyed aliens glaring at it from across the vast expanse. The batarians had the hots for this and every other planet in the Verge. And to them, it was rightfully theirs.

Both the systems bug and the rumors put him ill at ease. He typically didn't trust his intuition, as it usually turned out to be nonsense. But something about this didn't sit right with the chief. As soon as he got his dressing down from the brass, he kicked the door to the control floor open, called everyone who was off duty, and told them that they weren't leaving the control tower until whatever was screwing with the targeting parameters was scrubbed clean. It had been three full hours of non stop typing and searching through data now, and the fact that they hadn't found the issue only pissed him off more.

Getting up from behind his own office desk, he walked out of the security door to his office and onto the control floor where he saw everyone, even the tired eyed night shift, working endlessly in search of the culprit. As he walked down the line of exhausted techs, he noticed that one of the seats was empty. Spying the chair, he knew exactly who it belonged to.

"Where the hell is Arina?" he asked, looking at all the others in the room. They all looked back at him briefly, before returning to their work. He grimaced and rubbed the bridge of his nose in agitation. The asari in question had actually had a couple of drinks with him the night prior. He'd had his eye on her gorgeous blue behind for a few months now and last night had been pleasantly surprised when she asked him to dinner. They'd had a wonderful time at one of the richy restaurants that served free wine to offset the cost of their ridiculously priced food. Still, it was a night he'd remember for a very long time.

"Sh-She never came in sir." said one of the human men who sat on a console closest to the door.

"How the fuck did it take me so long to notice that?" he asked scratching his head of dark brown hair.

"I...I don't know sir." replied the man.

"Shut the hell up and get back to work." said the chief as he turned around to enter his office from the entry hallway again. The man who spoke simply lowered his head and continued to type away. If she thought one night of amazing brain sex...or whatever the asari did when they mated was going to get her out of work, she was sadly mistaken. Pulling up his omnitool communicator, he scrolled through the numbers looking for hers. He'd gotten her private number last night as well, making him confident that he'd get her to pick up.

He pushed the button to call her and waited impatiently as the text **[Connecting...Please Wait]** blinked at him from his omnitool, but all thoughts of his head froze solid when he heard a familiar chime emanating from the foot locker next to his office door. Chills went down his spine as the melodic tone continued in sync with the call trying to connect. Closing the his omni-tool, he looked over at the locker and confirmed his suspicions. The ringing stopped.

Stepping over to the footlocker, he slowly reached down and unlatched the casing on it. It was an old school military trunk that he'd kept around since his retirement from the Alliance Navy years ago. Typically, he just threw anything he didn't need into it to be forgotten, only to then dig it up later for nostalgia's sake. Having a matching one at home helped him cope with stress in both the home and work environments. But now, as he lifted the lid, the sight practically doubled the speed of his heartbeat. "What the fuck!?" he shouted as he fell backwards in surprise.

Inside the tote was the bound body of the Arina S'anna. The asari woman had her hands bound behind her back, her legs bound at the knees and ankles with heavy cords, while her mouth was covered with thick adhesive tape. Just looking at her, she looked to be dead. But despite the horror he felt, he still crawled over to the open container and cradled her.

"Arina...wake up baby. Come on. Wake up, please!" he cried as he gently massaged her blue cheeks. She still felt warm, which was a hopeful sign that she was still alive. He was surprised to learn the previous night that asari were similar to humans in temperature. He'd always thought that they'd be colder to the touch given their blueish color.

Suddenly, the asari opened her eyes, causing him to gasp in horror jerk backwards. Her eyes were nearly pure black, with only a round sliver of dark grey indicating where her iris' had been. He had seen the phenomenon in several porn vids, as well as in person the night prior, but it still freaked him out. However, seeing her alive, he leaned into the tote and began to pull the tape away from her mouth.

Once free of the adhesive, Arina coughed roughly and looked up at him. "Ch-Charles...I'm sorry." she said as tears filled her eyes. The man began untying her bonds as quickly as his fingers would allow when he heard the statement.

"Sorry for what?" he asked as he finally broke her arms free from their imprisonment.

Reaching up, the asari wrapped her arms around his neck. "They put it in your computer. I'm so sorry...It was for my daughter..." she said as she sniffled again. "Please...let me say goodbye." she cried as she grabbed his head in her hands and began melding with him. He immediately froze in place as his mind linked with hers and his reality began to sink away. _"Goodbye Charles...let us embrace eternity together."_ he heard her voice say as if she were in his head. Both of them were so far out of their current existence that neither of them registered the device that the asari had been laying on top of, which was currently flashing.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE April 8 ESD - 0825 EST  
Department of Colony Defense, Entrance - Illyria, Elysium**

Downstairs from the control floor was a small guard station, meant to screen everyone coming into the building. Any and all visitors and employees who worked in the Colony Defense floor above them had to go through this gateway, making it relatively simple to pull this morning's operation off. During the shift change the night prior, the pair had hacked the main station cameras, then used the small amount of time they were given to take out the station guards. Once the cameras came back up, nobody was any the wiser that the man and woman who had previously been standing there had been killed and replaced.

Then came the queen of the chess board. A lovely blue asari who was dressed as if she had just gotten back from a date. The two humans saw her approach, but were felt chills as they saw her gaze, as her eyes were already void black, making her look like some undead creature shambling towards them. But they both breathed a sigh of relief as they saw one of their own escorting her into the building. As she passed, she reached down and scanned her card, then continued without saying a word to either of them. Her retainer also scanned a card, getting the green light before walking through the gateway and into the lift to the next floor.

It was all of twenty minutes before the man came down again without his baggage, then nodded to the pair. He was gone into the city in a matter of seconds. Now, they played the waiting game. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the man in charge of the building came blasting through the front doors. He had been so angry that he didn't bother looking at either of the two gate guards. He just scanned his card, then entered the lift.

A half hour passed before a few tired-eyed grunts began to filter into the building; all of them weary and eager to get to work so that they could go home again. One man actually stopped to ask them where the normal guards had gone, but he was easily deflected with a well made ID and excuse. Once they were all upstairs, it was just a matter of time.

Then, a half an hour later, the male of the pair heard his omnitool chime merrily. Smiling at the female across from him, the bald man nodded towards the door. "Time to go." he said as he grabbed his hidden weapons from underneath the cabinet. The pair made their way outside rapidly as his omnitool continued with a countdown. Finally, once they were at a safe distance, the man lit a cigarette and puffed on it just as the building they had left down the street erupted into an explosion of fire and smoke. The buildings all around that didn't have plasteel windows immediately saw their own blasted inwards from the concussion, wounding many with a rain of glass.

The man chuckled as he pulled the cigarette from his lips. "Goddamn! I've always wanted to do that!" he said to the woman who was following him.

The female rolled her eyes at him. "You know Elanos is going to cut your balls off for not blowing the bomb as soon as they were inside, right?" she asked, agitated that his aloof attitude might get her in hot water.

"Don't worry babe, it's all good. Just let me do the talkin'." he said as he opened the communicator and dialed the first number on the list. "Yo, bossman. The deed is done, and the front door is wide open." said the carefree individual.

" _Why was it half an hour late?"_ asked the cold voice across the comm.

"I...I just wanted to have it be dramatic, you know? Chief finds his girl sitting on the bomb, and boom!" he said, his chipper attitude all but gone. Silence dominated the line for a long moment. "Boss?"

" _Mason, are you still with him?"_ asked the turian voice over the channel.

"Yes sir." she snapped, moving herself slightly away from the man. Reaching behind her, she pulled her Executioner pistol free. The weapon was typically used by Blood Pack mercenaries. But they were easy enough to pull off their corpse after a skirmish.

" _Kill him.."_ came the voice again. Before the man could even turn around, the small sand-grain sized fragment punctured his head and exited his eye, killing him instantly. As he fell to the ground, the woman grabbed the dead man's communicator and strapped it to herself. " _Consider yourself educated on what happens when you play games in my outfit Mason. Don't let his fate be your own."_

"Got it sir. Headed to the rendezvous now." she said, her own spine tingling at the thought that she could have easily been a target for the turian's wrath as well.

" _Good. Communications should be down shortly. Then we can begin. Until then, prepare yourself."_ finished the boss. Then the call closed out.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE April 8 ESD - 0840 EST  
Turian Market District - Illyria, Elysium**

"What's the matter?" asked the turian woman as she turned to eye her friend curiously.

The human, shorter by several inches, looked down at her omni-tool curiously. "My connection just dropped." said the redhead as she tinkered with the device.

The turian then pulled up her own as the pair continued walking down the road. "Strange, mine did too. Must be something going on with the network. Maintenance maybe?" she asked as she put away her own comm, then turned to the human and nudged her. "Don't worry about it Jane. We're on shore leave now, remember?"

Smiling at her counterpart, Shepard followed her example and hit the power button, closing down the light projected display. "I know, Sevene. It's hard to remember sometimes."

"With the training that you're going through, I'm not really surprised. If you weren't in civies right now, I imagine you'd be marching to the store with me," said the taller woman as they rounded the corner, making the short-haired human chuckle. "You just finished N5, right? Only one more trial before you make full N7."

Shepard glanced at the turian, her eyebrow raised in curiosity. "You've been studying Alliance Special Forces?" she asked.

"Only a bit. They don't let us see everything, of course. I don't know what kind of training you are put through. But I know how the ranking system works at least." said Sevene amusedly as she stared at the shorter woman with her predatory eyes. But the Lieutenant knew what that curious stare meant.

Feeling conflict within herself, Jane knew to change the subject. She wanted to divulge the details on her training to her friend, and it was more than likely that she would do nothing with it but use as more chatter between them. But her ironclad oath slapped her again, making her sigh to herself as she threw out a deflecting question. "So, you're getting married?"

Donning a thoroughly disappointed look, the turian straightened up again and stopped in front of a shop simply titled ' **Vankar'** in English lettering. Shepard looked up at the store and noticed that it was relatively standard as far as turians go. Every spare amount of space was packed with product, rather than gimmicks to draw customers in. Her xenolinguistics professor once told her that turians had a phrase for advertising. 'If they're in your store, they want your product.' Meaning that it was the seller's job to pitch the product, not flashy advertisements or gimmicky signs. That made most turian shop owners who followed that ethos seem like over-eager aircar salesman.

"I am! It's going to be on Macedyn." said Sevene as she held the door open for her human companion.

Jane walked into the store and noticed immediately from the stock on the shelves that they weren't here for dresses or other wedding paraphernalia that she was used to. "Knives?" she asked, eyeing the taller woman curiously.

"Of course. We exchange them at the wedding. What do humans do?" asked the former ghost as she paused to look at one intricately carved knife hanging from a peg on the wall.

"Rings." said Shepard, getting a look from both Sevene, and the shop owner who had come from behind the counter to do his duty. He stood taller than the both of them by a good margin.

"What, like piercings?" asked the male turian, who was now standing only feet away from the pair.

"No, they're rings that we fit on our fingers. Here." she said, holding up her left hand and pointing to the ring finger.

"What good are rings?" asked the owner. Both the human and the turian woman looked at him, and from the way his mandible clicked, he realized immediately that he had said something potentially insulting. "I...I mean, I'm sure they have value. However, the knives we sell here are far superior to any other bonding apparel you'll find." he finished, putting on his best show.

Chuckling to herself lightly, Shepard turned to her friend. "Anyway, you were saying?" she asked jovially. But the question went unanswered as all three of the figures were stunned to silence by the sound of a loud siren from outside. "What the hell is that?" asked the lieutenant as she stepped towards the autodoor. When the door opened, she could easily hear the familiar pulsing sound of weapon fire in the distance over the even louder emergency sirens.

"Oh no…" said Sevene as she watched ships fly over their buildings that were clearly violating the flying vehicle zoning laws.

Spinning around, she grabbed the turian man by the front of his cowl and pulled him towards her. "Do you have any weapons?" she asked hastily, her eyes telling him that she wasn't as much asking, as she was demanding.

"I'm not allowed to have firearms in a human colony!" shouted the man as he took a step back.

"Do you have anything else?" she snapped, the commanding officer coming out through her voice. The turian man just blinked twice, then moved his hand towards the wall where they were previously eyeing the talon shaped knives. "Oh...great." grumbled Shepard.


	6. Retaliation

OoO( 6 )OoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1318 EST**  
 **Turian Market District - Illyria, Elysium**

"Everything's gonna be okay. Don't worry!" said the man as he ushered his wife, child, and his fellow coworker outside the shared shop and into the aircar with sirens blaring around them.

"Arnold...would it not be safer to take cover inside the store and lower the security gates?" asked the salarian man that worked with the human.

"I've got a cousin in Tara just a few kilometers from here who will be able to shelter us. If we hide in the store, they can blow the gates off and do what they like. Now quit arguing and get into the car!" shouted the human man as he closed the passenger door for his wife and son, both of whom were now crying hysterically.

The salarian man sighed to his business partner and opened the back hatch, then jumped into the seat before the father himself ran around to the other side of the car. But, before he could even get the hatch open, the swooshing of another vehicle overhead startled him. He rapidly looked up to see a bunch of armored figures, each wearing vastly different armor than the others, all staring down at him from the back of a hovering loading vehicle.

Several of the strangers jumped out of the vehicle and landed right next to him, circling him like a pack of wolves does to its prey. "Well well, look what we have here. A trespasser." stated the figure as he grabbed the human by the collar of his business coat.

"Trespasser? This is my business!" claimed the man incredulously as he raised his hands defensively. The armored unit currently held a rifle upwards in his free hand while practically strangling the man with the other.

"I'm afraid not human. You're all trespassers here. Every last one of you vermin who crawled off that shit covered planet of yours." said the man behind his helmet.

"Human? Then you're…?" asked the man, not wanting to even finish the question. But he didn't have to. Using the finger from his rifle hand, the unknown unit tapped the side of his helmet, and the black face shield suddenly went transparent, showing a figure with four eyes and curved, arching contours on his forehead. "Batarian."

"That's right. This planet is mine now, and it's time we got rid of the infestation that's been plaguing this planet for years." said the batarian as he shoved the man against the aircar harshly. Arnold hit the side of the car, but held his footing as he stared in shock at the invader. All of the men that had followed him to the ground laughed as their figurehead lowered his rifle and aimed it at the businessman. The three in the car all yelled in horror as they watched the scenario play out, screaming and grasping at the windows. But everyone was silenced when a loud explosion was heard from above.

The truck that had brought the pirates to the ground suddenly veered off course and crashed directly into the road, sending the insurgents that remained in the vehicle soaring across the paved walkway. The batarian man looked up in shock and watched as some of his men landed horribly, breaking limbs or being crushed underneath the weight of the heavy truck while it rolled, flaming, down the road.

"You all go check for survivors and find out what happened! Shakas…" cursed the boss. The businessman eyed the distracted batarian's gun, then decided to take advantage of his captor's horror to try and grab the rifle. Reaching out, he gripped it with both hands and wrenching, trying to pry it out of the aggressor's hands. But the batarian backhanded him harshly at the attempt, sending him tumbling to the ground. The human coughed roughly, then rolled onto his back as he stared up at the barrel of the weapon he just tried to steal. "Your family is going to pay dearly for that." said the armored man, but the human ignored the threat as his eyes caught the movement of another human crossing the street

As silent as a shadow, the figure approached from an angle that put her directly out of the attacker's vision. Short red hair, not so tall, but definitely built for battle, she stopped behind the batarian, then reached up with one arm and grabbed the helmeted figure's head harshly. Before he could even struggle, she jammed some kind of curved knife directly into his neck. With one jerking motion, a spray of crimson covered part of the car and a good portion of his own suit.

Like a machine, the strange woman tossed the batarian aside and pulled his weapon free from his hand. Raising her palm, she looked like some divine figure in a painting as she aimed it at the rest of the group. After holding the pose for a few seconds, she raised the rifle and began to fire at them with pinpoint accuracy.

The remainder of the pirates were easy pickings for the marksman as she narrowed down the sights and ended their existence. Whatever she had done resulted in the pirate's shields going down, which meant they only had armor to defend them against her onslaught. And pirate armor wasn't nearly as good as they boast.

In a matter of seconds, four fell to her hawk-like aim, while two of the remaining survivors dove behind the burning husk of the vehicle to try and get away. But as soon as they hid behind the vehicle, a tall, female turian with greyish carapace and full-face clan markings appeared like a shadow and kicked them into view again. She slammed another of the curious knives through one of their face shields, putting them down with little fight as blood began pouring from the now gaping wound in his face.

The other tried to pull his weapon up to fire, but she moved like a blur, grabbing the assault rifle and spinning around with a kick. As soon as the calf-kick landed in the side of his armorless head, he flew and hit the ground again. But it was clear something was wrong. Getting to his knees, he reached up and touched where she had kicked him. Instead of the usual bruise or perhaps even damaged skin, there was a puncture wound that was now swelling horribly. Suddenly, he felt his vision blurring and his throat closing rapidly, making him gasp for air as his face began to flush from overexertion.

The turian woman turned her head away from the dying raider and looked over at her companion as she came around the vehicle. Seeing the turian, the redheaded human lowered her weapon and nodded. "Gather the weapons up. We're probably going to need them." she remarked, before turning to the businessman's vehicle again. Arnold rose to his feet once more, now staring at the batarian with a turian knife wound in his throat. "Sir?"

He broke his gaze away from the corpse and looked up at the woman who had saved his life. "Arnold...Arnold Glenn." he said, holding out his hand. She looked at the hand cautiously, then let go of the assault rifle with her own to return the gesture.

"Alright Arnold. I'm Staff Lieutenant Shepard with the Alliance, and I'm going to have to borrow your car from you." she said firmly.

The man looked up at her in surprise and pulled his hand away. "You...you can't. I've got to get my family to safety!" said the man in a panic.

"Sir, I have to get to the armory and make sure that the Alliance ground forces here still have a way to fight back against these pirates." said the lieutenant, her face unmoving. The sound of the turian woman cleaning up the remaining groaners could be heard back behind the truck.

"But...what about my family?" he asked, nearly despondent.

"Take your family around the corner here to a turian store called Vankar. He has a shelter underneath the store where you and your family can stay safe until we repel the pirates. Just tell him Shepard sent you." she said as she tapped on the aircar's windshield. "Come on, the longer you stay out here, the less safe you are." she commanded, finally getting a nod from the man.

The lieutenant's partner approached seconds later, loaded with enough guns to make the human man flinch. Shepard just smirked at her. "Find anything good?"

The turian scoffed, "They're pirate weapons, what do you think?" As she approached, she tossed her human companion a heavy pistol to pair with the assault rifle she had taken from the batarian.

Locking the safety on the pistol, the redhead tucked it away at her side before sliding over the hood of the car and opening the passenger door. "Let's go." she said as she hopped into the seat where the businessman's wife had sat previously.

"I'm driving?" asked the turian as she sat in the opposite side.

"No license." said the human as she closed the seal and flashed the turian a smile. Chuckling at the response, the turian turned on the vehicle and lifted off just as Arnold, his family, and the lone salarian made their way towards the store.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1325 EST  
SSV Agincourt CIC - Illyria, Elysium**

"This is Captain Armstrong with the SSV Agincourt calling out to any and all Alliance personnel in Illyria! We have a code Violet! Incoming insurgents from the Verge numbering in the hundreds! All units are to report to their commanding officers and prepare for retaliation. The defense towers and off planet communications are down, so backup may not be coming for a long while. Godspeed." said the captain as he went to close the channel, a heavy sigh coming out as he did.

"Sir, all systems are ready. We're just waiting for your order." said the navigational officer from behind him.

"Looks like we're the only line of defense gentlemen." said the man as he reached up and wiped his brow with the sleeve of his officer's coat. "Fire up the engines. Even if we're outgunned, we're not letting these bastards take Illyria without a fight." he growled as he stepped into the CIC.

Suddenly, his communications officer piped up from the station he just left. "Sir! We have a response from the ground!" shouted the young female.

Turning back, he immediately stepped up to the console and hit the tile to accept the call. "This is Captain Nathan Armstrong speaking from the SSV Agincourt. Provide your name, rank, and unit." he snapped, before turning to the navigation officer again. "Pressley, get this bird off the ground."

The man snapped a quick salute before returning to his duty. As the ship lifted off, he looked back at the woman who stared back at him through the holocom. " _This is Staff Lieutenant Jane Shepard, formerly of the SSV Alexandria. I was here on furlough and am currently terminal right now without a commanding officer."_ came the woman's voice.

The commander cocked an eyebrow at the woman through the comm, wondering how such a young officer could look so menacing. Looking over at his communications officer, she nodded, confirming the officer's identity. "Lieutenant...you said you were to be transferred after your shore leave, so you don't currently have any higher command to report to?"

" _Roger sir. I heard your message on our emergency channel and thought I'd contact you. You said that off-planet communications and the defense towers were down?"_ she asked with a curious tone in her voice

"Well, points for hearing the details. That being said, you should be reporting to the on-site commander, Admiral Booker." he noted grimly as he felt the pull of the ship leaving the hangar.

" _Actually sir, I'm headed to the nearest armory to make sure it's secure. But about the towers, what happened to them?"_ she asked curiously, her own gaze now inquisitive.

"The Department of Colony Defense said something about a bug in the system that was scrambling their targeting. Lieutenant, where is this line of questioning leading?" he asked as his brow furrowed.

" _Well sir, I'm trained in electronic warfare. Perhaps if I can get into the Colony Defense systems, I can fix the issue and get the towers back online."_ she spoke as her holo form looked to the side. In the background of the call, the humming of an aircar could be heard, as well as distant explosions.

"Lieutenant, if you manage to get those towers shooting again, I'll pin a service medal on you myself." said the man. Previously, he had seen this as possibly his last act for the Alliance. But if she was right, then they could actually save this colony. "I'm having our navigations send you the location of the DOCD building now. Good luck Lieutenant." he said, then cut the call again as he nodded to Pressley.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1330 EST  
Skyway 15 - Illyria, Elysium**

"You heard him. Let's get suited up and head to the DOCD headquarters." commented Sevene as she narrowed her eyes to stare through the windshield. "Looks like the armory wasn't spared from the attack."

Shepard leaned over and stared at the window as well. On the ground, there were the same-looking ragtag armored units from before firing into the blown-out entrance of the armory. Luckily, there appeared to be return fire as well. "Well, let's ask them politely to stop." she said, smiling over at her turian friend. Sevene just smirked back, then hit the accelerator as she spun the vehicle around and lowered to the ground.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1333 EST  
Mueller Alliance Armory - Common District - Illyria, Elysium**

"There's only three of them inside! Get your ass up there and throw a grenade in the door! Use a drone! Do something!" shouted the batarian who stood the farthest back from the retaliatory fire. He had started with ten units when they first assaulted the well known armory, but as they blew the front of the building open and tried to march in, the return fire they received was so precise that three of his men went down immediately, while another was yanked inside and no doubt laid dead on the ground with a hole in his skull.

Ever since the initial push back, they hadn't been able to gain a single inch of ground without burned out shields and injuries to extremities. It was infuriating, and his mood didn't lessen any when one of his cronies turned and shouted, "Watch out!" and pointed over his shoulder.

"For what!?" he shouted as he turned. All four eyes locked onto the front of a speeding aircar as it flew straight for him. "Oh…shakas..."

As the vehicle impacted, every bone in the batarian's spine crumbled to gravel, both arms snapped on impact, and his skull ruptured against the hood. His legs now dragged between the vehicle and the road, nearly getting ripped off from the friction. The vehicle turned slightly to aim for another man, but he saw the battering ram coming, and dove to get out of the way. Finally, the vehicle stopped, and all of the pirates focused on it instead of the entrance.

"Open fire! Kill the sonsabitches!" shouted one of the humans in the pirate group. Seeing their leader nearly decapitated by the vehicle made sure none of them held back as they turned their weapons on the civilian vehicle and unleashed hell.

One of the pirates, a turian, suddenly stopped firing as he heard a loud pop sound from his armor. "What was that?" he asked himself as he looked around. Suddenly, a round fired from the armory bypassed his shields and slammed into his skull, splattering his brain matter outwards. Dropping to the ground, his blue life force poured out onto the pavement as his comrades continued their fire.

The fiery-haired human and the clan-painted turian stepped out of cover as all the pirates focused on the now flaming car. "This was almost disappointingly easy…" remarked the turian as she raised her own rifle and aimed down the sights.

"Don't get cocky. We've still got a long day ahead." said Shepard as she mimicked the action, and both of them gunned down the ragtag squad from a distance. The few that remained were easily dispatched by the resistance inside the armory. Once the invaders were all neutralized, she opened her comm and spoke into it, magnifying her voice as she stepped towards the blown out entrance. " _This is Staff Lieutenant Jane Shepard, Alliance N5 trainee. I'm going to enter the building unarmed, so hold your fire."_

"We got you LT! Come on in with your hands up!" shouted a female voice from the entrance.

Shepard smirked, then handed her weapons over to the turian. "Keep these for me. Hopefully we'll have new ones when I come back out." she said as she raised her arms in the air and walked towards the front of the building.

As she stepped inside, she saw three bodies on the floor, one injured man tucked away behind a thick filing cabinet, and three M8 Avenger class rifles aimed directly at her. "Sorry LT, but we have to make sure that you aren't tied in with the scumbags who tried crashing the place." said the familiar female voice from behind a helmet. The rank on her chest told Jane that she was a Service Chief.

"The ones I just cleaned up out there?" asked the LT with a smirk.

"Sorry sir, but I wouldn't put it past some of these pirates to kill a few of their own in order to get access to what we've got in here." said the Chief. "Besides, we already found one of our own in league with them, so you'll have to forgive the precautions." said the woman as she scanned the records thoroughly. "Alright. You check out. I'm Service Chief Warner. What did you need sir?"

"Where is your commanding officer?" asked Shepard, who lowered her arms after the rifles on her were lowered as well.

"He's the one behind the cabinet. He caught flak from the explosion that took out the front wall. He's been bleeding ever since, and I'm not sure how much longer he can hold out." she said, a tinge of worry in her voice as she looked over at the lighter-skinned man.

"My turian partner, Sevene, is a medic. She can assist in patching him up while I get my things." said Shepard as she hailed the former ghost. "Sevene, we've got a man down here that could use your skills." she said into the comm as she headed over to the armored cage in the back.

"But…" said one of the soldiers as the turian woman approached the building. He raised his rifle, but froze solid at the sound of Shepard's voice.

"Stand down serviceman!" she shouted, anger apparent in her voice. Immediately, the meek second class lowered the weapon and stood aside as the turian walked inside.

"Everything alright?" asked Seven as she looked at all the cautious faces staring at her.

"They're just a bit jumpy, and rightfully so. See what you can do to help him." said Jane as she eyed the chief. "Service Chief, if you wouldn't mind, we have a colony to defend."

"R-Right. Sorry sir." said Warner as she moved over and used her ID to unlock the cage. Swinging the door open, Shepard grunted out a thanks, then stepped inside. She stopped immediately in shock as she saw what was inside. Racks and racks of your typical Alliance weaponry of course, which was currently the M8 Avenger, paired with the Edge pistols, both purchased from Elkoss Combine after their first treaty with the Council was reached. Armor sat in the far back of the massive cage, as well as standard Alliance electronics, from crates of mines and grenades, to shield generators. But the most impressive thing in the entire armory had to be what sat directly in the center.

"Wow..." said Jane as she stepped forward and eyed the vehicle curiously. "You guys have a Mako? Here?" she asked, looking back at the chief.

"We do. It was supposed to be picked up by the SSV Agincourt for training drops out over the badlands to the north." said the Service Chief as she watched the officer don her armor.

"Well, looks like it's going to get more training today than intended." said Shepard as she locked her chestplate on over her civvies.

"You're taking it?" asked the woman at the door.

Shepard stared looked at her with a grin. "In case you haven't seen it out there Chief, they have ships flying around killing civilians by the dozens. That thing has a 155mm accelerator cannon that would knock one of them clean out of the air. You're damn right I'm taking it." she said as she finished and slid the helmet over her head. "If there are any issues, take it up with the brass when this shitstorm is over."

"He's stable now. The shrapnel wasn't embedded too deeply. I was able to remove it using the medkit and the medigel is doing the rest of the work." said the turian as she eyed Warner. "But he has a serious concussion. He should not be fighting anything unless it is an absolute last resort. I don't care if he pulls rank on you, do not let him hold a weapon." she ordered, getting a nod from the Service Chief.

Shepard had already grabbed an assault rifle and pistol, and was now pulling one of the compact, long-barrelled M-22 Reaper class sniper rifle from one of the higher shelves. The Service Chief looked over at the turian and nodded. "Thank you."

"No, thank you." said Sevene as she admired the new M8 Avenger that she pulled from the rack. Turning to Shepard, she gave the woman a quick nod.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1350 EST  
Department of Colony Defense - Illyria, Elysium**

"Looks like they tried to make sure nobody could fix it." said Shepard as she looked around the control floor of the Colony Defense building. Sevene also took a long look at the massacre they were currently standing in. The window that normally gave workers a decent view of the sprawling city had been blown out by whatever exploded inside the tower, letting a draft into the room. The carpet was gone, the terminals all around had been melted to nothing, and black ash and soot covered everything in the room. All around, there were scorched bodies of the workers who hadn't escaped the blast, laying across the room.

"Whoever did this is a monster…" growled Sevene as she stepped into the room and looked around at all the terminals. "None of the equipment is intact. Will you still be able to do it without them?" she asked as she turned to the redhead.

Shepard nodded and opened her omnitool. "I can, I just need to get into their systems. For that I need an access point." she said, looking around the room through the facial visor of her Alliance helmet. The warm breeze fluttering in the window would have been relaxing were it not for the sounds of gunfire and explosions riddling the city in the background. She stepped forward and began scanning with her omnitool. "It looks like whatever hit this place didn't take out the network itself. Just the terminals accessing it. Give me a minute."

Sevene stepped over another of the charred bodies as she made her way through a broken down wall and into what looked like a smaller office. From the looks of the blast patterns, the bomb went off in here. On the ground near the back wall were two figures, one was a human that looked like he took the blast at close range. The other was an asari, whose crested head was in far better condition than her torn up body. Despite her death however, the young-looking woman appeared to be smiling, getting a curious stare from the turian.

"I've got it!" came the call from the human on the control floor. Turning, Sevene hopped over the rubble from the wall and into the main room.

"You're in?" she asked hopefully.

"I will be in juuust…" she said, then her omnitool flashed once. "There we go." she claimed as her eyes scanned over the network data in front of her. "It looks like whatever is jerking the targeting systems around was introduced early this morning. Let me see if I can find out where it came in, then I can track it down and get rid of it."

While the woman had been talking, the turian's eyes roamed over the armored figure before her. She'd known Jane since they had crossed paths on a planetside rumble with a group of pro-human fundamentalists. The band had taken a building hostage during a meeting between turian and human officials. The men and women of the Alliance and Hierarchy were peacefully discussing reparations for the occupation of Shanxi. Well, as peaceful as a group of humans and turians could be anyway. But after the hostages were taken, both the Alliance and the Hierarchy responded to the attack with force.

That force came from a small team of soldiers sent in to infiltrate the building and take out the threat from the inside. Sevene was one of those units, sent by the turian Primarch to "show the dogs how we deal with terrorists." While her 'Ghost Squad' waited in the shadows, the Alliance vessels brought in their own infiltrator class soldiers from a small dropship. They were all tall and stoic figures, something you'd expect from the System Alliance's best. Except for one, who was short, making her stand out from the others. And it was her smaller stature that drew the turian's gaze for the first time.

Both teams were meant to enter the building, but due to dire circumstances, the only two who made it in were Shepard, and herself. EWat followed was a unique form of teamwork that resulted in the freeing of the hostages, and the eradication of all of the radicalist members. Since then, Sevene had finished her service and enjoyed the civilian life amidst the colonies. But they never lost touch with one another, something she was very grateful for.

"Done. It's party time." said Jane as she closed out her omnitool. "Let's go show them what we think of pirates." said the human as she headed for the door. Sevene twitched her mandibles in amusement at the technical skill of the woman in front of her.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1402 EST**  
 **SSV Agincourt CIC - Illyria, Elysium**

"Sir! Kinetic barriers at twelve percent!" came the shout near the cockpit. Captain Armstrong held onto the railings of the CIC as the ship shook again. Since entering the fray, they had been assaulted on all sides by the pirates. While the Agincourt had far better shields and armor than a typical pirate ship, they had numbers. And god did they have numbers. Every time the Captain ordered the destruction of one of their ships, two more replaced it, as if every pirate in the Terminus was here.

"Reroute power from all nonessential systems to the shields!" ordered the captain as he glared at the holographic display of the uphill battle in front of him.

"Sir! We've got a target heading directly for us! Their weapons are hot!" shouted one of the engineers from her combat station.

"Then take them down!" shouted the captain.

But the man shook his head. "Sir! Starboard laser defenses have fried!" shouted the engineer. "Even evasive maneuvering is out of the question. We're going to have to take a full hit." said the man in horror.

"Goddammit…" growled Captain Armstrong as he took his seat and strapped himself into the command post. "Brace for impact!" he yelled into the speaker that filtered through the rest of the ship.

Seconds later, he was closing his eyes as his ship lay dead in the water for any number of incoming insurgents to strike. But the moment never came. Instead was a call from the pilot. "Captain, target destroyed!" she shouted, an air of relief in her voice.

Unshackling himself, he stepped up to the hologram. "By what?" Suddenly, the communications officer spoke up.

"Sir! Lieutenant Shepard is on the line again!" shouted the soldier.

"No way…" he said wide-eyed. "Morris! Open the viewports!" shouted the captain. The armored covers on the ship did as they were told and slid upwards, allowing a clear view into the bright day. Every one of them watched in awe as the GARDIAN towers spun and turned the smaller, less protected pirate ships into ash in mid air with pinpoint laser fire. "Send the call to the CIC." said the captain.

When the call connected, he heard a familiar voice come out of his comm. " _Sir, guns are up. Plus I've got a fairly decent anti-air weapon rolling around on the ground right now. Where do you need me?"_

The man began laughing, almost maniacally. "Shepard, has anyone told you your timing is impeccable?" he asked as he turned to the navigator. "Pressley, which of the colony's defense walls were in place before the attack?"

Briskly, the navigations officer brought them up on the holotable. "It looks like all of them except for five and twelve sir! Their control buildings were hit by pirate raiders before they could be triggered!"

Turning back to his station, he barked out a command immediately. "Shepard! Take your vehicle and bring as many people as you can to gate 5 to prevent ground entry into Illyria! The GARDIANs may be able to take out their air superiority, but they aren't designed for ground targets!" he yelled. "We'll send backup your way once we've rallied the others and cleared the streets!" shouted the captain as he handed out orders to the others. New hope filled the ship as they continued to witness any flying craft that hadn't already been registered to the colony customs board get burned out of the air by the nearby defense tower.

" _You got it sir."_ responded the woman.

"Oh, and Shepard?" asked Armstrong before cutting the call. "Send these bastards straight to hell."

" _Affirmative."_ was her only response before the line went dead.


	7. The Skyllian Blitz

**2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1415 EST  
Vakarthus, Bridge - Vetus System**

"Someone tell me what in the titan hell is going on down there!" shouted the turian as he stood up and threw his turian whiskey against the far wall of the bridge. The glass shattered into hundreds of shards, causing the strange liquid pour down the wall slowly as the angry man rose up from his chair and watched the wholesale destruction of his collected fleet.

"Well, Elanos, it seems they got the defense towers back online." said an asari standing behind him, a small smirk on her face.

Looking back slightly, his mandibles clicked in irritation. "I can see that!" he growled before bringing up his own holo map of the city again. "Forget it. We can still salvage the situation." he said scanning the miniaturized colony in front of him. Spotting a possible seam to tear open, he immediately activated the comm console. "Calling all ships within the borders of Illyria, if you're still alive, move towards a skyscraper, or get your ass on the ground! The tower can't risk damaging the colony or civilians, so they won't fire on you!" he shouted at the remainder of his fleet.

"Not a bad plan, but that isn't going to help them against the frigate that's now hunting them down." said the asari again, her voice hinting at amusement.

"Look Farah, if you wanted to call the shots your blue ass should have stepped up sooner. Now back off with the mouth before I have you thrown out the airlock." he snapped, only getting another amused chuckle from her. Turning back to the console, he opened it again. "The rest of you outside the colony, make your way for Gate 5! The Alliance ship is crowding the other entrance, so steer clear and go around. Right now I want every ship that can fly inside that damn city on bringing down that human ship!" he shouted into the comm. In response, hundreds of green lights lit on his console, showing which ships had heard and acknowledged the orders. Those who didn't were either already dead or running for the hills after the towers' display of power.

"Not a bad plan, but that's a pretty nasty choke point." chimed in Farah as she looked at the map curiously.

Glaring at the asari once more, he almost snarled at her. "There's only one Alliance ship in the colony right now. Who the hell is going to take advantage of that choke point if it's on the other side of the city?" he asked, as if he had one upped her.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1418 EST  
Gate 5 Outskirts - Illyria, Elysium**

"This is Mok'lanok near Gate 5 and ready to strike. Everyone follow my lead." said the batarian captain as he piloted the small craft downwards until he was speeding just a few feet off the ground. Aimed directly at the open security wall, he smirked when the defense tower refused to fire. "Easy money." he said over the comm to the other ships.

" _Mok'lanok, I've detected an anomaly in the gate. It appears to be some kind of vehicle. Do you have visual?"_ asked the commander from a much more prestigious ship than his own.

"Targeting now." he said back as his windscreen zoomed in twice, then finally a third before an unsettling image was projected on the display. It looked like a tank, a large vehicle with six wheels that was painted blue and white with Alliance colors. The most worrisome part about it though was that its giant cannon was aimed directly at him. "Shakas…" he cursed as he saw the barrel light up.

Suddenly, it was a vacuum inside of the spacecraft. The large round had hit the vehicle directly in its cockpit, obliterating the pilot and taking all of the air with it as it tunneled out the back. The ship immediately hit the ground and exploded, showering all his nearby comrades in flak. "What the fuck was that!?" asked a startled human from another ship. But he didn't get an answer as another round tore through his own ship and slammed into its eezo core, detonating the entire thing in an explosion that shook the ground.

"Contact Haliat and tell him we're receiving fire from Gate 5!" shouted a turian as he veered his ship away from the gate. But even he wasn't spared, as a sand-grain sized fragment punctured through the side windscreen and splattered his head across the cabin.

OoOoO

 **2176.78 CE - 1544 CST  
Military Housing Block M900 - Zakera Ward, Citadel**

" _-don't care what the hell it takes, just get the damn thing working! What?"_ came a staticky voice as the news story flashed to the captured footage.

" _We're live!"_ came a male voice from off camera.

" _Now? ….This is Aaliyah Almasi with the Alliance News Network. Today we are broadcasting from Sector 5 of Illyria on the colony world of Elysium! Hours ago, the entire city's sirens went off all at once, sending the city into an unsettling alert. Following the sirens was gunfire and explosions caused by an invading force from the Verge that had somehow penetrated the Alliance's defense systems and shut them down. However, we now have word that someone has managed to undo the sabotage, and the defense towers are now live..."_ said the reporter as the drone that they used began focusing on one of the ships over their head.

Both kids watched in awe as the camera panned upwards and showed a single pirate fighter getting torched out of the air by one of the pinpoint lasers. "Woah!" shouted the boy excitedly as he watched the news story.

His teenaged sister grumbled and looked over at him accusingly. "Quiet! I'm trying to listen!" she commanded, elbowing her twin gently.

" _...and we now stand inside the gate of Sector 5. It appears with the defense towers online, the pirates are unable to approach the inner city from the air. Instead, the insurgents have started clamoring for entry at the only other gateway in the city left that isn't being guarded by an Alliance ship. The resistance they met however was more than the initial wave could handle. Almost every craft that approached the gate was destroyed, with only a few getting away before their impending destruction. The architect of their routing, an Alliance officer by the name of Jane Shepard, is now standing and directing the ragtag group of humans, turians, and asari from behind cover to prevent any of the hostile units from entering the city."_ reported the woman as the camera focused on her again.

"Wow!" chimed the girl this time. Her brother smirked at her as her excitement peaked at the prospect of the female commander.

" _We're now leaving the ANN action drone to film the action as we take cover. The insurgents are making another round to try and get through the gates, and any non-combat civilians are being moved away from the gate to a shelter. This has been Aaliyah Almasi with the Alliance News Network, signing out._ " finished the reporter as she turned off her mic and stepped out of view of the floating camera.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1440 EST  
Sector 5 Gate - Illyria, Elysium**

"Team One, now!" shouted Shepard as she spied the approaching wave of criminals making a run and gun for the front gates. Two asari, a pair of sisters that Jane and Sevene found fighting a group of pirates, stepped out from either side of the gate and both of them lit up like an eezo core during relay jumps. Lashing their arms out, the two majestic females sent giant shockwaves pounding down the road to the gate. The first five pirate fighters immediately dodged out of the way, two of them having to pull upwards to get away from the attack and getting annihilated by the defense towers as a response. But those behind the front line were hit square in the faces. Three of the vehicles immediately buckled under the biotic assault, the cabins crushing near instantly. But the real damage was when one of the vehicles was hit by both waves. The mix of biotic power resulted in a detonation that left a crater in the middle of the road where once there had been a ship.

The main cannon of the Mako fired again, punching through the one of the fleeing ships and causing it to crash to the ground, nothing but a flaming husk. "Team Two!" she shouted, aiming down her scope and zeroing in on one of the vehicles that was turning to make another run from a different, less exposed angle. As soon as the vehicle crossed her reticle she squeezed the trigger and sent the shot clean through the canopy and into the human's skull. The ship continued on until it slammed into the outer barrier wall of the city. Meanwhile, other members who had some combat training, including an older male turian took their long range rifles and fired at the oncoming wave. While much less accurate than the Lieutenant's pinpoint shot through the man's skull, they were still hitting the vehicle and tearing the flimsily armored pirate vessels apart. "Team Two stand down! Team One, finish them off!"

Again the sisters stepped out. This time, one of them sent out a powerful biotic wave that stopped the remainders in their tracks. Then the other sent warp attack into the fray that once again caused a biotic detonation of destructive proportions. When the sisters stepped back into cover, Shepard immediately noticed them both panting heavily at the exertion. "Boss, I think I may need a minute." said one of the girls as she plopped down on her rear end.

Nodding, Shepard turned to a male human standing by completely decked out in Alliance uniform. "Get them some food and water, and a little time to rest." she commanded. The medical trainee saluted and did her bidding. Both of the sisters smiled up at Jane gratefully as they were led to a small building nearby. With the next wave a few minutes off, Sevene popped her head out of the top of the Mako.

"What about my break? I've been with you from the start!" she claimed in mock offense.

"You can have a break when you do some work." said Shepard with a playful smile.

"Ma'am…" called the well-aged turian who swung the sniper rifle in his hands like it was his own. Looking up at the tall figure, she smirked at him. Neros had been taking the raiders out one by one from the rooftop of his apartment complex when she found him. The offer of more targets with a better rifle was too great, and he readily agreed to join the party.

"No need for formalities. You can call me Jane." she said, forgoing the handshake.

"I'm a former Hierarchy drill instructor Ma'am, you'll have to forgive the policy." he said sharply. She cocked an eyebrow at him curiously, wondering if this was going to be another humans versus turians debate. "I have respect for any officer of any military, even yours. That being said, I have to ask what in the spirit's honor you're thinking by letting them take a break. We still have fighters zeroing in on us, and those girls are probably the only thing we have keeping them back."

Narrowing her eyes, the human stood firmly against the turian militant. "With all due respect sir, there are a lot of ships out there, and we're not going to help matters by exhausting our two superweapons. On top of that, they're civilians, and not combat trained. I'm not going to sacrifice their lives when there are other options." she said sternly.

The turian's eyes narrowed as well, resulting in a soft twitch of his mandibles. "Fair enough. But that tank can't continuously fire. There needs to be something between the shots to fill the downtime, or we're going to be overwhelmed." said the older turian.

"Something's coming from above!" shouted a female nurse who was carrying one of the sisters away. Both the turian and the human lieutenant looked up and their eyes widened as they saw a much bigger ship drop from orbit outside the reach of the defense towers.

"They've gotta have guns on a ship that size…" growled the turian as he leveled his weapon again and aimed down the sights. "It's turian design, you can almost guarantee it does." he snapped as he tried to fire a shot at the speeding vessel.

Shepard grimaced as the shields on the craft lit up from the shot. "And shields. Mako team! Take down that vessel!" she shouted rapidly as she moved quickly. "The rest of you get to cover!" The other fighters moved quickly, but some not quickly enough. As the Mako fired, so did the ship. The two long range shots crossed one another on the field and the destructive force when they impacted was immense. The Mako took a full shot to it's side, sending the vehicle careening sideways and flipping like a coin through the air, before finally landing back on its broken wheels with a smoking hole through its center mass. The ship took the shot on its nose and the shields deflected it before burning out temporarily.

"We need to stop it now before its shields come back up!" shouted the turian from behind cover.

"Where is the pilot?" asked the woman as she popped up from her own barricade and readied her sniper rifle.

"Front end dead center! Shepard, you're shooting something you can't see!" shouted the turian as he too took up his rifle and aimed.

Squeezing the trigger twice, she felt the gun jerk back in her hands as two rounds flew from the barrel. Immediately, the heat warning on her weapon started flaring as the gun locked up. Ejecting the glowing heat sink, she immediately slapped in a new one in one smooth robotic motion before aiming again. Meanwhile, the turian, ignoring the race of smaller vessels around the much more advanced ship, nearly gasped in shock when he saw one round slam into the large ships' center. The thick armor on the ship had done its work and stopped the shot. But the second round hit the exact same spot. Then he heard the commander fire twice more before the familiar hissing of a spent heat sink sounded again. The next shot hit the same place, then the fourth, resulting in a hole directly in the middle of the armor.

The ship nosedived directly into the ground, coming to a catastrophic halt before flipping up into the air with its engines still pushing it. As soon as it reached a certain height, the defense tower locked onto the ship and obliterated it with a concentrated beam of energy. After watching the commander nail the same spot on a speeding ship four times, the turian turned to her, his jaw hanging. "What the hell are you?" he asked incredulously.

"Get everyone back! Now! We may have stopped the big one but the others are coming and we just lost the tank!" shouted the woman as she stood from her cover and began moving backwards, switching out her sniper for the closer ranged Avenger.

The older turian jumped at her order, immediately shouting at the other fighters to move back as quickly as possible. When he returned to Shepard's side, he prepared his own weapon. "What do we do?"

"Take everyone who is still alive and fall back down the street. Make another choke point with whatever you can find, and do it quickly. I'm not going to be able to hold them off forever." she snapped. Staring at her for a long moment, the turian simply placed his folded hand against his chest, a form of turian salute. As he gathered everyone, she stood and watched as the vehicles sped towards her, making for the opening that the gunship had left them. "You bastards want this colony?" she asked as she opened her omnitool. "Come and get it!" she yelled as she saw them cross the hot zone.

Activating the detonator, the entire ground around the gateway lit up like the sun while the lieutenant hid behind her street barrier. A shockwave erupted through the ground that nearly shook the other defenders off their feet as every ship that had crossed that line erupted in fire and metal. The concentrated focus of their destination resulted on most of them slamming to a halt directly in the gateway, making a temporary fiery barrier that kept the other ships at bay.

OoOoO

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1455 EST  
Sector 5 Gate - Illyria, Elysium**

"They're using our own goddamn corpses to block the gate!" shouted one of the humans that had been back far enough to avoid the blast. It still left him with a likely concussion and a goddamn headache though.

" _I don't care if they're skinning you alive and putting you on display! Dismount your damned vehicle and get in there! The rest of the squad retreated! There's only one defender left at the post!"_ shouted a turian captain to the human.

Slamming his fist against the pilot wheel of his now disabled ship, he kicked the door open and grabbed his rifle. "Whatever's in this goddamn place better be worth it." said the man as he and the others that had received the order filed out of their useless ships and began jogging towards the opening in the wall of destroyed spacecraft. He coordinated with the others, signalling that he was going to go first. Then he immediately burst from the cover of the metallic wreckage with his weapon up and ready to fire.

 **2176 CE, April 8 ESD - 1457 EST  
Sector 5 Gate - Illyria, Elysium**

The human at the front was immediately killed as three rounds slammed into his chest at near light speed, puncturing his lackluster armor. More men flooded out firing as well, causing the armored defender to take cover as rounds began chipping away at her barricade. Lighting her omnitool again, she activated her stealth capabilities.

Meanwhile, the pirates stopped firing temporarily, and one of them directed the others to move around the barricade to flank her. Two turians nodded in acknowledgement before quietly moving around either side of the street and out of sight. "Keep your weapons trained on them." growled the batarian as he took charge. "Hey guys, I wonder how much we could sell this dog for?" he asked loudly enough so that she could hear it. The pirates chuckled, but kept their weapons trained on her position in case she reacted. "I bet we could easily get a couple thousand credits out of a fighter like them. Hell, after they finished with her their body, they could throw 'em into the pits to make the money they spent back." he said with a smile that reeked of anger. Despite all his talking, she wasn't responding at all. Growling to himself, he finally snapped. "Get out here human filth! Come out with your hands up or we'll chip away that stupid shelter of yours!"

" _Besak!"_ shouted one of the two flankers over the radio.

"What!?" he shouted back, already in a foul mood.

" _They're not behind the barricade!"_ came the call again. Immediately, the batarian stared in horror.

"What the hells do you mean they aren't there!? We saw them duck down and they haven't moved since!" he yelled angrily. Suddenly, he was stunned to silence as he felt a slap on his back..

"Sorry boys. Party's over." said the lieutenant as she detonated the carefully planted grenade. The entire group was devoured in fire, tearing the batarian to pieces and sending the others scattering from the impact. Some landed dead from the blast, while others rolled around in misery. Raising up from her new location, the redhead aimed down her sights and cleanly killed those that weren't taken out by the blast.

Unfortunately, her new cover put her directly into the path of the turian who had gone to flank her. He took aim and fired into her side, almost shorting her shield. She dove over the barricade to get away from the fire, but one of the rounds had already punched through her arm near the elbow. Growling in anger, she saw the turian hop the barrier to go for the kill. But she lashed out with both feet, scoring a cannonball like kick to his chest that sent him soaring back.

Rolling to her feet, Jane raised her weapon and fired, finishing the stunned turian. But she wasn't finished as she felt as if a sledgehammer had hit her in the back. The woman flew forward and skidded along the ground face first as an unknown shotgun blast hit her armor clean in the back. Rolling onto her side and coughing through heavily labored breathing, she saw three more figures approaching from the burning gateway. More pirates were starting to filter in through the gate now, outnumbering her three to one. At the head of them was a krogan that held a shotgun over one shoulder.

"It was a good fight, but it's over now. Give up and I'll consider selling you as property rather than killing you." snarked the large reptilian looking alien. Shepard got to her hands and knees now, the taste of blood in her mouth and no weapon in sight. Both her rifle and sniper had gone separate ways when she was fighting the turian. "Might even keep you for myself. You put up a damn good fight."

She had fought several krogan before in her run-ins with mercs. But never did she have to take any out up close. She was a sniper after all, and was meant to kill things at a distance. Still, she knew quite a few weaknesses of all the known races. When killing was your job, you do it well, or don't do it at all. And she did her job very well. The krogan lowered his shotgun to her chest, a somewhat awkward smirk on his face.

"So, what'll it be human? Servitude? Or death?" he asked. But the pirate stumbled back as gunfire from the disabled tank struck him directly in the chest. Seven coughed heavily as she took in gasping breaths, her hands barely able to clench the weapon she was holding.

He growled, and he and his two partners raised their weapons to return fire. Being as close as he was, he wouldn't have been able to react quickly enough to stop her. Pulling one last turian knife from her omnitool strap, she grabbed the shotgun with one hand and lunged forward with the other. The curved metal sunk directly under the hardened plate on the creature's head with a sickening sound, causing the large raider to scream hysterically as Shepard ripped the shotgun from his hands. Spinning quickly, she blasted one of his cohorts in the chest, ripping a crater in his torso.

Feeling the ping of rounds ricocheting off her recharged shields, she spun again and unleashed another hellish blast that nearly made her skid backwards with force. Neither of the invaders had shields, making them easy targets for the heavy shotgun. The krogan had fallen to his digitigrade knees now, reaching up to try and delicately remove the blade that was jutting out of his head. But the lieutenant put an end to that when she pressed the shotgun directly to his face and unleashed another roaring shot. Unwilling to test her luck, she cocked the weapon and fired it twice more into the now hollow skull of the dead pirate.

Her breathing was extremely heavy when she heard the explosion nearby. Looking up, with her lungs burning, her one arm barely responding, and the taste of blood still in her mouth, she peered through the visor of her helmet at the new ship that had just cleared the wrecked path. This one was a smaller human fighter, allowing her to see through the plasteel into the cockpit. The man smiled and waved at her sarcastically as both of the weapons on his ship turned towards her.

Suddenly, as if by some miracle, the ship exploded so heavily that it knocked her backwards. The woman groaned in pain as she looked up to see something blotting out the sun. Clearing her vision, she saw that It was the hull of the SSV Agincourt. " _You know Shepard, when I told you to send them to hell, I didn't intend to have you meet them there."_ came the amused voice of Captain Armstrong.

"Of course sir. Must have misunderstood your original orders." she said as the ship flew past her, its own weapons tearing through pirate ships before they could even get close. As the ship drifted by, she clearly saw fire raining down into the atmosphere of the planet, and more Alliance ships swooping into the colony. "Cavalry's here?" she asked over the radio.

" _Damn right it is."_ said the captain as he set the ship to overwatch the gate. " _Shepard, what you did here was insane, and utterly stupid, and defies any sense of logic that the Alliance prides itself for. I want you to know that before I go pinning a medal on your ass and inflating your ego."_

"Duly noted sir. With your permission, I'd like to take a nap now." she groaned as the medigel continued its work on her arm. Despite the healing gel's quick work, it didn't stop the pain.

OoOoO

 **2176.102 CE - 1920 CST  
Military Housing Block M900 - Zakera Ward, Citadel**

" _And that's why we have to ask the hard questions. Was it right for this human Lieutenant to hand out Alliance weapons and armor to aliens?"_ said one of the women on the TV. She had a rather dark complexion, with brunette hair down to her shoulders that looked as smooth as silk.

" _Listen to what you're asking! Staff Lieutenant Shepard saved a human colony with the help of those aliens. If it wasn't for them fighting against the invading force from the Verge, who knows how many of the colonists would have been captured and sold into slavery?"_ snapped back a human male across from her with sandy blonde hair and a suit fit for a lawyer.

" _What Representative Michaels is forgetting to mention is that around 25% of the weapons she put in civilian hands were not returned to the Alliance armory. What if sometime in the future, those weapons are used in some kind of terrorist attack on the colony?"_ responded the woman.

" _Like the one that happened last month? Or did our lovely journalist suddenly forget that nearly every pirate in the Verge attacked the colony all at once?"_ asked Michaels, the outrage on his face as plain as day.

" _The attack on Illyria is in the past, and now we must look towards the future's problems!"_ snapped back the woman, her voice rising in anger as well.

" _I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but that's all the time we have right now. Mr. Michaels, Miss Al-Jilani, thank you both for coming-"_ came another woman's voice before the TV changed channels.

"You two need to stop watching that crap. Tabloid news rots your brain." came a gruff voice behind the young boy and girl.

"Awww, but dad!" complained the young man as their father changed the channel.

"No buts. Watch this instead." he said as he changed the channel to another network, this one labeled ANN. On the screen was a stage set up in the biggest park of Illyria. In front of the large platform were rows and rows of Alliance soldiers in full dress uniform. Both the boy and girl perked up at the sight of the redheaded woman standing in full Alliance Class A regalia in front of an aging full-bird captain, who was pinned something to her chest.

"Is that her?" asked the girl as she curled up next to her father, who sat between the pair.

"That's her. They're pinning the Star of Terra on her today." said the man as he ruffled the teenager's hair.

"Why does she look so serious?" asked the boy, who had just noticed the solemn look on their hero's face.

The father gave a melancholy sigh. "That's the face of a soldier kiddo. There's nothing fun about fighting."

This time the girl chimed in. "Then why do people do it, Dad?" she asked curiously.

Staring at the stone cold face of Shepard on the screen, the father simply said. "Because someone has to." That seemed to answer the question, as both his son and daughter quieted down and watched the holoscreen. The father got up from his seat and headed towards the door. "Scott, Sarah, don't stay up too late." he said, then left as they waved in acknowledgement.

OoOoO

"Shepard…" came the voice of another, who watched the channel from another world. He sat in his chair with a glass of turian whiskey. He had been watching with anger boiling in his veins. But ever since her face came on screen, and she was credited as the Hero of the Skyllian Blitz, he had gone silent as rage filled his entire being. Soon, the glass in his hand cracked, then exploded, coating both his taloned fingers and the arm of the chair in the foul smelling liquid. "Shepard…" he growled again to himself.

OoOoO

 **Author's Note:** This is the end of Shep's pre-ME1 story. From now on, I hope to see you all reading my ME1 retelling. And always remember. Paragade for life.


End file.
